A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength. Proverbs 17:22
We, as a world, just recently crossed the 1-year threshold of the pandemic. It has definitely been a challenging year and we aren’t done yet, but we are getting closer. It is easy to look at the negative things about this pandemic and get caught up in the pessimism but that can be tiring and cumbersome. Throughout this past year I have tried, sometimes more successfully than others, to look at the positive. That has helped me to recognize the God moments.
So, as I reflected on the past year I started thinking about the negative comments that have consumed our conversations, social media and our news. I decided to see if I could turn the negative into a positive. We can say schools have been closed for a year but just like our church hasn’t “closed” neither have the schools. I see God with all the teachers who have gone above and beyond to make sure that school is still happening, and learning is still taking place while keeping children as safe as possible. We can look at masks as awkward, uncomfortable and a complete annoyance or we can remember that masks keep everyone safer. Those that have been blessed with God’s gift of creativity went to work and began sewing millions of masks and giving them away. Masks have now evolved as a way to support our favorite sport team, the causes we feel passionate about and for the fashionably conscious they have become an accessory to our outfit. We can get caught up in how slow the vaccine is rolling out and in the confusion about when it’s your turn and how we even get in line or we can thank God for the wisdom that God has given those creating the vaccines we now have access to and for the many people who have volunteered to help with distributing them.
Finding the positive has helped me to see that God has been with us this entire time. This pandemic hasn’t been easy, but God hasn’t promised that life was going to be easy. God has promised to be with us in the easy and hard times, the good and the bad times, the happy and sad times. As we are getting closer to moving out of the pandemic tunnel we may feel joy, anxiety, and concern but we can find comfort in the fact that no matter where we are or how we are feeling God will be with us there too.
Gracious and loving God, it can be easy to get bogged down with pessimism which is a bummer because then we miss your presence. We ask for your help to stay positive so that we can be aware of the God moments. We give thanks for all the people who have brought us joy and comfort and have shared their gifts with all of us. Amen
Marty