Newness

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that there isn’t a single person among us who is doing what they expected to be doing when making life plans even a year ago, much less two, three, or four years ago. A year ago at this time, we were expecting the pandemic to impact us maybe through the fall and perhaps the end of 2020 but I don’t think any of us imagined we’d still be altering things because of COVID19 post Easter of 2021.

A year ago at this time, I was writing about taking the opportunity we’d been given to pause and consider all that we consider ‘normal’ and ask ourselves did we really want to resume the old normal. I talked about being given the gift of disruption and using this gift to evaluate what we find most important and how we have the opportunity to craft a new normal. Never did I imagine that a year plus some later, we’d still be navigating this same, uhm, opportunity.

What’s been normal for the past year is loosely held plans and working intentionally to maintain our relational connections while at the same time keeping the most vulnerable among us, as well as ourselves, safe and well. I have discovered two things through this year of ever evolving normal: One, that I really like this less “busy for busy sake” way of living; and two, that living in wait and living in anticipation are completely different things.

I’ll say more about my discoveries in the weeks to come, but I’d really like to hear about what you’ve discovered. How have you been surprised in this past year by the joy you have found in the unexpected? Have you chosen to see this past year as continued newness or constant change?

As People of The Resurrection, as we let Jesus focus our eyes with a Kingdom of God lens, we learn to see the world in a continuous state of renewal, enabling us to grieve what we’ve lost without getting lost in a hopeless wilderness of despair.

Are you able to see good in the continued newness or have you been overwhelmed by the constant change?