Nothing says new like springtime!
Green shoots of grass appearing, crocuses starting to peep out, and buds forming on trees. Birds are singing more and pretty colors emerging everywhere. Soon there will be newborn birds and animals as well. It’s a lovely time of year!
As a nation we are also looking at a sense of newness as more and more people are vaccinated and gradually the grip of the coronavirus is being loosened. It will be a new time for us.
Are there things that you are newly appreciative of since the pandemic? Lessons learned, things you want to hold onto? Great is God’s faithfulness – He has new things for us each day!
God often uses difficult times in our lives to help us learn new things about ourselves, Him, and others. I am currently reading through the Old Testament as I read the whole Bible through this year. His people spent so much time in the desert, wandering, turning towards Him and away from Him. They had so much to learn about trusting Him. So do I.
In the very beginning of the pandemic my main anxiety was about food. I wasn’t afraid of going hungry, but mostly concerned about getting the highly preferred foods that my autistic son desires and has a very difficult time managing without. I recall laying in bed at night, or waking early in the morning thinking about this. There really was only so much I could do. I turned to God for peace and comfort.
As the pandemic progressed, the main stressor became timing. How much longer before my children and husband (he’s a teacher) would return to school? I also was very concerned about my parents, in their 80s. How would they make out during all this? I fretted about them running errands and how I could make days like Easter still special for them without having them over to celebrate.
All in all these were minor concerns, we stayed healthy and employed, we were together. However, these were really problems to me, a source of anxiety. Plus it has been a long year, a time of endurance, trying to get through a non-preferred time of life.
I don’t want this period of time to fade to away without some reflection, what did I learn – about myself, God, and others? Are there new things I can appreciate, do differently? Have a I grown as a person and as a child of God? New beginnings can be a time of fresh starts. But let us not forget the things we learned during the winter and times of darkness.
