I don’t know if it has been the same for you, but at this point in the pandemic, I have found myself frequently in checklist mode. Have I completed everything to a high enough standard at work? Did I pack my hand sanitiser? Did I wash the masks in time to have enough clean ones for tomorrow?

I think I am often in this mindset because I’m reacting on an impulse to protect myself, those I love, and my community. While these extraordinary times call on everyone to take responsibility, I know the efforts to protect can feel too much for me if I forget that God is always here, by my side.

I am so grateful for the moments when God is able to remind me that I don’t have to bear everything alone. A chance encounter with a swan, a kindness from a stranger, and quietly sitting in the church, watching the sunlight come through the stained-glass windows all come to mind. Was there a time like this that God found you, stressed and worried, and gently reminded you of his presence?

In her poem The Summer Day, Mary Oliver describes an encounter like this with a grasshopper. I love her question at the end, which makes me consider: if we remember God is with us always, giving us strength, how might we think and approach life differently, especially in times like this?