Waiting for Love During Quarantine

Has the pandemic put a stop to your efforts at finding love?

As if it is not already an emotional, mental, and physical challenge to wait to meet the one you will marry, you are now faced with a stay home to stay safe order. Which means more waiting. What can you do until things get back to normal?

Pope St. John Paul II once said, "Don't waste your suffering."

This applies to our current hardship of quarantine. If you are home and not working and not socially interacting, not even going to church, it still does not have to be a "nothing time" of frustration.

All time is given to us for a purpose. This is no different.

God still expects us to make the most of it. I have no clue what other people are doing to pass the time but I humbly suggest that it's a mistake to think of it as that way—passing the time. It's way healthier and more hopeful to see this time as a God given opportunity.

Remember that story by Aesop about The Ants and the Grasshopper? The ants work together to gather food for the winter while the grasshopper plays video games? The grasshopper sees no urgency. The days feel like they will stretch on forever. Then suddenly, they change. Prep time is over. The grasshopper has nothing to show for the time he had been given. The ants are prepared.

So yeah, as much as this time in quarantine feels like the new normal, it will end. Even if that is not as soon as we think it needs to be, when it comes I expect it to still feel sudden. We will have to change habits that have been weeks, months in the making. The real normal will feel strange as we will be asked to resume work and every day activities as before. So will dating. So that is what we should be preparing for.

Who do you want to be when you start dating again?

The best version of yourself, of course. Have you wanted to improve your life but just didn't have time to make the needed changes? Maybe you're really interested in a different career, or more education, or developing a new interest. This time could be your answer.

Around my neighborhood I see lots of people catching up on projects at home. They are painting, cleaning, planting. They weren't sure how they were going to do these things before. Suddenly they have time and they are going for it. These people know, or hope that soon they will be back at work, and probably scrambling to catch up there and to pay their bills. But they still have to be productive today. At the end of the day—today—they will have satisfaction because they will know they got that painting done or that cleaning or that planting.

This time could help you sort the relationships you might have taken for granted before. I've reconnected to my siblings far and wide with phone calls and taken scenic walks with friends. I say the rosary with my family members via hangouts every day.

Most important to me, I've used the down time to call my elderly dad every day, instead of once every two weeks like I used to and I plan to keep doing it long after this quarantine is over. Thinking of others, especially the vulnerable, helps you to bear your own hardships and helps you to be a better person.

The relationship that matters most is the one you have with God.

I think it's safe to say that Lent and Easter were not like any we've ever experienced before. The deprivation of the Sacraments, I hope, created a longing for them rather than a feeling that they are non-essential. I hope the reduction in activity allowed more time for personal prayer. I know I was strangely undistracted. Instead of trying to fit prayer into an otherwise busy active life, I was able to satisfy an increased desire for prayer that has always been in my heart.

There is so much to pray for, so much hardship all around—the disease itself, loss of job or business, social unrest, distrust between neighbors. The answer can only come from above. If you pray, you realize that God is in your midst as much as ever. Talk about waiting for love. He is waiting for you!

Let this time be a way to get in deeper love with Him. Then any plans, any projections, any improvements we want to make in our lives will be in His hands and will be fruitful.