A FEW weeks ago, I tested positive for Covid. I have to be honest – I was shocked as I already had a brief encounter with the virus back in June, but thankfully it was fairly mild and I was negative five days later. However, this time was different. 

I was completely floored and didn’t get a negative result for fourteen days. It was certainly unexpected, and I could barely get out of bed, let alone do anything else. I had every symptom, and at one point thought I would have to head to hospital. Thankfully, I am getting back to normal (though I still feel pretty rough), but for me it was a stark reminder that this virus lives with us, and even though many of us are vaccinated, we can still become very unwell with it.

I’m not writing this to bring doom and gloom, but instead to highlight that so often in life the unexpected interrupts our everyday. Whether it’s an unexpected illness, loss, financial crash and so on, whatever those unexpected disruptive seasons bring along, there are always lessons to learn. 

For me, I simply had to rest. I have often wondered if I was already very run-down before the virus hit, causing me to be so unwell? I recently re-read this poem. This is the Time to be Slow, written by John O’Donohue, reminding me that sometimes we must lie low and go slow.
 
This is the time to be slow,
Lie low to the wall
Until the bitter weather passes.
 
Try, as best you can, not to let
The wire brush of doubt
Scrape from your heart
All sense of yourself
And your hesitant light.
 
If you remain generous,
Time will come good;
And you will find your feet
Again, on fresh pastures of promise,
Where the air will be kind
And blushed with beginning.
 
Friends, maybe this is a time for some of us to be slow and to lie low to the wall. The bitter weather will pass!