I grinned a smile in the mirror. Then I didn’t.

“My life’s hanging on by duct tape and happy thoughts” someone said the other day.

My youngest got off the treadmill, our pretend yard, and blurted out “Mommy, I love how the new song on the books of the bible ends.” And melodiously shared her discovery ‘There are 66 books in the bible, and o-n-e STORY.’ “

Four sinners, four walls, four weeks (or more) of forced bonding. It’s bound that one of us is going to do time-out. Mama first, then the kiddos.

The swooshing of the laundry is my morning jazz, and the cold blueberry oats are my egg-and-bacon. That’s been my new normal since I’ve become a mom. Now, with the coronavirus shutdown, I have a brand new normal to adjust to. And so do you.

Church buildings may be closed, but worship in not on lockdown. What if we turned this global fright into personal delight with Jesus?

My oldest kid thinks I’m ancient. She asked me today if bikes were invented when I was a child, and if my older brothers and I all clumped together in one room for school, just like Anne of Green Gables. Next thing I know, she’s gonna ask me if I met Adam and Eve.

I must have been eleven when my father left on his desk a booklet called, Five Minutes With Jesus. Before walking to school with my brothers, I’d read the allocated page for the day, then prayed as was suggested.

And there it lay on the Frankfurt airport floor.