What COVID Taught Me To Appreciate
Mckinley Pate
In October 2020, I was diagnosed with COVID-19. At first I thought it was just a simple sinus infection, but it turned out to be so much more. I say the following not to scare anyone, only to state a fact; I do not remember being that sick for that long in my adult life. This virus is nothing to take likely. However, there were some good things to come out of having this virus. I learned to appreciate so many small things that I was taking for granted.
I learned to appreciate the smell and taste of food. I found out that I had lost my taste and smell about two days into the virus when I bit into a turkey sandwich. For those who know me, sandwiches and burgers are my favorite, well really anything that you can put between two pieces of bread. However, when you don’t have your taste and the only thing that you can relate to food is the texture, then and only then do you realize how disgusting a turkey sandwich can truly be. The lose of my taste made me realize that I had taken it for granted all my life. And then I wondered if I was taking the sweetness of God’s Word for granted. The Psalmist wrote “How sweet are Your words to my taste, Sweeter than honey to my mouth! Psalm 119:103. Oh how I never want to take it for granted ever again!
This virus also taught me to appreciate my brethren even more than I already had. So many of you brought us food (which I’m sure was delicious although I couldn’t taste it), called, sent cards, and more importantly prayed for us. One day, I even had a brother in Christ come and cut my grass for me. I was too sick to even go to the window to see the great job he had done. We often call the people we go to church with our family and how appropriate that is, because we are just that; a FAMILY. The brethren made me feel like we belonged, and not as just a hired hand. They fulfilled the Law of Christ. Paul penned “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ,” Galatians 6:2. I appreciate the church and thank them so much for loving us the way that they do.
Finally this virus taught me to appreciate my family more than I did. For twelve days I was unable to spend time with family. I had to quarantine in the living room and although Stephanie was sick with the virus also, we both were too tired and irritable to be around one another. The words that Paul wrote in Ephesians chapters five and six take on a deeper meaning with me today.
I’m embarrassed that it took a virus to show me how much I need to appreciate, but prayerfully I won’t take these things for granted again!