Dennis Bonnen Sunday Reflection for March 22, 2020
Dennis Bonnen Sunday Reflection for March 22, 2020

Sunday Reflection for March 22, 2020

Well, another week of the "new normal" has passed and, like good Catholics, Team Bonnen did our version of church on Saturday evening, taking time to reconnect before hitting play on our selection for family movie night.

Like many teenagers these days, our sons admitted to kind of enjoying the chance to sleep in without homework hanging over their heads but said they weren’t exactly obsessing about the pandemic. (Oh to be young again…)

It struck me that, during a week in which I’d talked to the people of Texas through media interviews and fellow state leaders on countless phone calls while walking the neighborhood, I could have done a better job of keeping my home team informed as well. So I took the time to recount to them the steps that our state is taking to slow the spread of this virus and to prepare our whole system to help those who fall ill.

I repeated a concept that I’d been saying all week and it is this: every single person has an opportunity to contribute to the success of this global effort to beat this challenge. Every single person.

The more we do to follow the prescriptions of healthcare experts, who have advised us to retreat into isolation in our homes as a way to stop the spread of this disease, the better off we will all be. At the same time, we do what’s medically necessary, we can’t lose sight of the spiritual side of this situation. (Note: I’ve shared concepts from my faith in the past and am about to again seeing as it’s Sunday, so if that’s not your thing, feel free to skip the next paragraph.)

We cannot be motivated by a spirit of fear. In 2 Timothy 1:7, we read “for God gave us a spirit not of fear, but of power and love and self-control.” We must do what we’re doing out of the power (personal agency), love (for one another) and self-control (because I really want to SIT DOWN in The Fill Station and eat a pile of brisket) because fear leads us down into the darkest places. God’s love for us and our responsive love for others is the path of power.

So, it might sound strange for an elected official to talk about love, but it has to be what drives us. Our love for our families, our love for our fellow man, our love for our communities, our state and nation has to be our motivation. Otherwise, the fear will turn our neighbors into enemies, our fellow shoppers into competitors, and our homes into dungeons.

So let’s spend this week living and acting out of love, engaging with our families as we do our part to overcome this threat. When we do our part and the danger subsides more quickly, as a result, think of how much better we’ll all be.

Let’s choose love and beat this together.
Have a great week.

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