Author: Karen & Vicki

Recently, Vicki and I were talking on the phone when she shared the activity that she was engaged in at the time. She said, “I decided to do that today since it’s Friday and I won’t be able to do it tomorrow.” I listened further as she shared the activities planned for both days. Then I said to her, “Vicki, today is not Friday.” She took a delayed pause and then responded, “It’s not?” I answered, “No, today is not Friday.” This time she said with a long, slow “hmmm” followed by the question, “Well, if it’s not Friday, what day is it?” I then said, “Today is Thursday” and we both enjoyed a good laugh right after she said, “I have a whole ‘nother’ day, then.” We agreed that we are suffering from pandemic time. Without the regular activities that have long been part of a particular day of the week, without the natural starts and stops of the week that signal when it’s time to do certain things, we’d gotten lost. Our bodies felt weird; today looks pretty much like yesterday and probably not much different from tomorrow. Everything seemed off. The regular things included going to church on Sunday, to specific meetings on Tuesday and Thursday, shopping on Friday or Saturday or something closely aligned with that. But now, we are mostly staying at home, limiting contact with others and generally only seeing people we know online. Pandemic time! Our daily, weekly and monthly structures have changed. We lost control! How most of us long to be in control – of our calendars, our clocks, our comings and goings. We want to be in charge. Yet a tiny germ that we cannot see, smell or feel stopped us in our tracks. We HAD to stop. We could not continue our planned activities as intended. We couldn’t just forge ahead. We had to be still. In our busy, get it done, overworked society and the world at large, we had to stop. So, what shall we do while we are in pandemic time? First and foremost, we must realize that we are not in charge. We cannot control all the things that we’d like. Many express feeling like they’re just wasting time, stating that they need something productive to do. I suggest that being still, quiet, inactive for a while is actually doing something- something good and something important. Our bodies were never intended to be on 24-7. We were created to work and to rest. Rest has gotten a bit of a bad rap among some who constantly applaud their work ethic by sharing how many long hours they work and how little sleep they get. Such thinking has likely been fueled by the advent of our abundance of electronic devices. Our technology permits instant responses and work from anywhere opportunities leaving some to think that we should never stop. The mindset that says I must keep going, I have to do more is not only unhealthy, it can be deadly. Stress kills. So, with all the challenges of pandemic time, take a moment to consider the opportunities you have. Stop. Rest. Realize you’re not in control.

Life is just full of surprises. An unexpected visit by a dear friend, a ‘just because’ gift, a thank-you note for an act you thought went unnoticed – these are all pleasant surprises. We love them. They warm our hearts and brighten our days. Then, there are the not so great surprises – the mammogram callback, the spouse who announces he wants out or the job loss you never saw coming. Days rarely go exactly as planned. That is why buffer time is so critical when scheduling appointments or traveling to events. That is why patience and flexibility help us get through the unexpected times.  But, all things considered, we want predictable. We want our days to go as planned. We want to do what we want when we want. We want normal.

As we said goodbye to 2019 and welcomed 2020, many spoke of the incoming year using an optometrist’s lens (pun intended) – 2020 vision. Perfect vision (2020) means no need for corrective lenses, no straining to see the fine print, no adjustments in body position are needed. So as individuals talked about 2020 being the year of vision, I understood most to be speaking of clarity relative to pursuit of goals. I believe 2020 vision referred to actions that would result in completion of monumental tasks and achievement of dreams. In a sense, it was movement away from the normal of 2019 and the preceding years to the crisp clear vision of 2020.

Then came a worldwide pandemic – coronavirus! Suddenly, nothing was normal. It was as if the world stopped in the blink of an eye. One day we were going wherever we wanted to eat out, the next day all restaurants were closed. One day we were complaining about rush hour traffic, the next day we were working from home. One day we gave little thought to our own mortality, the next day we were wondering about our virus vulnerability and grieving the growing death toll. Normal was gone. Zoom meetings, virtual worship, drive-by celebrations, online education – this is now normal. It’s not the normal we want, but it’s the normal we have. We are no longer surprised to see people wearing face masks. We expect people to greet without hugging. We expect others to stay 6 feet from us.  Normal has changed. As we long for what was, for what we look back and refer to as normal, we must choose to make the most of each day God gives. We must choose to embrace each day with gratitude, with clear vision of how much we have for which to give thanks. Longing for normal? Today is our normal.