On Our New Reality

On Our New Reality

We’ve all be hit by the coronavirus pandemic. No one is unaffected by it, at least not in the states whose governors understand what’s happening and how we need to deal with it. Some states with Republican governors, like South Dakota and Nebraska, are pretending that nothing’s going on and that they don’t have to do anything to deal with it. We know they’re wrong, and we know that citizens of their states will die because of their stupidity, but that’s not what I want to talk about here. Most Americans have been affected because the governors of the states with most of our population have acted responsibly and shut everything down. For us life has taken a radical new course. With significant exceptions even in states like my own Washington state where our governor has responded very well, most people are holed up, self-isolating. Most of us have stopped the activities that used to be our norm. Our lives have changed in significant ways. We’re isolated. We don’t go anywhere unless we absolutely have to. We don’t see anyone other than the people we live with, not in person anyway. We don’t go to school. The schools are all closed. We don’t go to church except online or by phone. We don’t go to sporting events. They’re all canceled. We don’t go to movies or plays. The theaters are all closed. We have far more alone time than we used to, or at least most of us do. I haven’t been out of the house except for short walks and a vey rare car ride in something like six weeks or more. My life is nothing like what it used to be. Most of our lives are nothing like they used to be. For most of us being isolated like we are isn’t a lot of fun. It gets pretty tiresome. I guess we introverts have less trouble with it than extroverts do, but it isn’t wonderful for anyone.

So let me suggest a way in which this time can be very valuable. We have time for reflection we didn’t have before. We also have an incentive for reflection we didn’t have before. The world has changed, and we have the opportunity now to reflect on how we wish to change too. We have the opportunity to consider what really matters, what’s really important. One way to do that is to consider what we miss most from our former lives. Is it all that consumption we used to do? Is it all the vanity that used to drive us? Is it doing work that may reward us financially but otherwise leaves us empty? Or is it time with people we love? Is it a quiet walk in the woods or along a shore? Is it time spent in a community of people of faith? Is it communal worship? Is it time with friends? We can also consider what we like about our new reality. More quiet time? Time to meditate? Time to pray, or read, or engage in a craft or hobby? Time to learn something new? There are lots of ways we can use this odd new reality of ours.

Here’s what can and I hope does happen if we use this odd new reality well. We’ll learn better than we have before what really mattes to us. What’s important and what isn’t. What satisfies and what doesn’t. What fills us and what doesn’t. Maybe we’ll even find our true calling life, something far too many of us never do. If we use this time well when we “return to normal” it will be a new, different normal. We’ll do things differently. We’ll have new priorities. We’ll spend our time differently. I hope and pray that our new normal will be a better normal. More fulfilling. More life enhancing. More faithful to who we really are and who God calls us to be, those two things actually being the same thing. May it be so.