On Being Distracted and 10 Lessons for Getting Back to Real Living!

I feel disrupted from my normal routine and I am DEFINITELY caught up in reading waaay too many articles about the coronavirus. Some get me riled up, others are sad or humorous, but taken altogether, I am aware of overload and a gut emptiness–something akin to making a bag of tortilla chips suffice for dinner. Does anyone else feel like you are ensnared in a never-ending vortex of information, news reports and the latest statistics (and even the fun or heartwarming stories of creative things people are doing to cope)? Be honest now.

All this time without outside obligations should be ideal for accomplishing great projects that have been on the back burner. With that being said, I am committing to drastically limit my consumption of social media and internet inundations of more COVID-19 fodder. (I may slip up on my resolve, and I hope my friends and readers will grant me grace. Do feel free to call me on it.) I may still write about topics connected to the virus if they are relevant to my larger goals, but I so much prefer writing to endless hours on rabbit trails reading about things over which I have very little control.

With that caveat, I want to give a shout-out to the essential workers in so many professions who are keeping us all alive! I am one of them! I volunteer at a crisis pregnancy center and it is such a blessing to still talk to the girls and women with unplanned pregnancies who are eager to hear truth about their babies and their options. Many of them are so open to hearing the gospel, and each month, dozens of these are accepting the Lord through our staff and volunteers. They receive hope, resources and encouragement, and without exception, they leave with a new joy and smiles on their faces.

I am so thrilled to see a plethora of posts and articles highlighting the benefits which can come of this time. These are some of the lessons we are learning together:

Slowing down
Reconnecting with people
Learning to communicate with and care for each other in new ways
Unleashing creativity
Discovering new passions
Understanding that the material things of the world as terribly transitory and can become inaccessible overnight
Recognizing what actions have lasting significance
Valuing the present moment and real-time focus on ways to show love to each other
Learning resiliency
Praying and seeking the Lord in all our ways

These represent a small fraction of the beautiful blessings we are finding as our entertainment is curtailed, parents and children are home together for extended time each day. Stories of honor for others, self-sacrifice, sharing of essentials, and individuals and corporations going overboard in easing the burden for all of us lift our spirits and bring us closed to seeing the face of God.

Let’s commit to making these part of the “new normal” so we don’t lose track of the great opportunities we have to become change-makers in our future. We will make it through this trial, and we will be better for it. The enemy of our souls wants us to believe that we have lost everything through this pandemic, but Jesus wants us to see that we have gained the most valuable treasures when we honor Him and our relationships.

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come that they may have life, and have it in all its fullness
John 10:10

What lessons have you learned during this time of forced quarantine? How will you keep applying your new perspective when life returns to the next phase of normal?