Finding Positive in the Storm

    


Despite only being just a few days into the new year, the nightmare of 2020 continues right into 2021.  We would love to convince ourselves that going to sleep on New Years Eve, we could wakup and all would be back to normal or some new hope would arise as we slept.  We've been swallowed up by a narrative that has focused on fear, division and hopelessness. It is easier to focus on the negative than to look for the good in a storm, especially when you are constantly reminded of how bad it is.  But that is what I want to do, to push myself out of the quicksand and hang on to the hope for a better day, finding positive in the storm. 

    The pandemic this year shut down schools and businesses and locked us all indoors.   News filled us with fear of even going outside, leaving us confused about wearing a mask that would not protect us. We had friends who contracted the virus, some recovered quickly while others struggled to get well and some who did not make it, leaving us in mourning.  People have lost jobs, homes and a lot more.  It has been hard.  But what is something good that has come from all of this?  

  1. It shifted us to focus on what's most important in our lives, our relationships with family, friends and God. 
  2. We invented new ways to communicate and stay in touch with each other, and did it more often. 
  3. We bought new homes and new pets and changed the way our families live.
  4. Families spent so much time together they took up some old pastimes putting puzzles together, playing boardgames or making TikTok videos. 
  5. We discovered we love to cook or be creative, something we didn't have time for in the past.
  6. Our materialism vaporized as we didn't have the ability to shop or spend the way we use to. 
  7. We started to look out for one another, check on one another and we were sure to check on our aging parents, grandparents and single friends. 
  8. Holidays that celebrate evil like Halloween were largely cancelled, even Christmas was less about Santa in the mall this year. 
  9. Parents got visibility into their school aged children's learning habits and had to be more heavily involved in the process. 
  10. We prayed more, for healing, for our friends and families. 
  11. We brought church into our homes and realized how important that community is and that spending time with God was not about a building we walk through the doors of once a week or less. 
  12. We gave generously to those who were in need, making you wonder why we waited for a pandemic to do it. 
  13. We supported our healthcare workers and looked for ways to provide random acts of kindness to all our first responders.
  14. We thanked God for protecting us and drawing us closer to each other and to Him. 
"LORD, be gracious to us; we long for you. Be our strength every morning, our salvation in time of distress." ~ Isaiah 33:2

No matter what we are going through we should never give up hope, we just have to focus on the right things and love the Lord and keep loving each other. 

Matthew 22:37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[c] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[d] 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”




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