Nine months into quarantine and working from home, I backed away from blogging. No bandwidth after a day job filled with one too many Zoom meetings. When I could finally hit the “Leave Meeting” button, didn’t have the heart go back to the computer.

Instead I’ve routinely run out of my house to the nearest trail or wood for some time alone under the open sky before dark. (Thanks to the end of Daylight Savings Time, it was dark today by 5:17 pm.) An added bonus: getting away from the computer has helped me avoid election ads, election news, election violence and election rants on social media, mostly.

It’s national Election Day in these United States. And stress is high tonight as polls begin to close and all kinds of ballots are counted: mail-in, drive-by, walk-in. Add to that the anxiety of living through a pandemic as U.S. cases of COVID-19 infection rise along with deaths.

In my state today, there was a record 67 COVID deaths in the last 24 hours and 2349 new cases. And still, there are people who think the Coronavirus is overblown, a conspiracy, a hoax.

Too much.

May I recommend a few simple steps to staying grounded and maintaining our sanity and calm in these crazy times?

Step 1: As much as we can, let’s step away from the screens of life: the phone, the television, the laptop, the paperwhite Kindle.

Step 2: Get alone somewhere with God where there are no electronics.

Step 3: BREATHE.

While breathing remember these truths:

God sits as king eternal, never to be overthrown. (Psalm 29:10)

He is good. (Nahum 1:7)

He is for us. (Romans 8:31)

He always causes us to triumph in Christ. (2 Corinthians 2:14)

He is coming again one day when we least expect Him. (Matthew 24:36-49)

Breathe. Refocus. Be still and know that He Is God.