10 Lessons 2020 Taught Us
Oh 2020! You were a doozy. I know I am not alone in this. It was a year of tremendous loss, fear, anxieties, depression, tension, hate, anger, frustrations, CHANGE, uncertainty and pain.
But I believe pain is a teacher. 2020 did teach us a couple things.
I did learn a couple things in 2020 that I think will stick moving forward. Maybe these will ring true to you!
Our children are more resilient than we give them credit for. There were struggles. Homeschool isn't always the most fun, but we did it. If there is one lesson our children need is that “we can do hard things!” These kids had schedule changes repeatedly, had to wear masks to restaurants and in school and stared at screens for hours and hours on end. This generation of children may very well change the world.
Our world has been worshipping the wrong things for way too long. Listen we did not really need a global pandemic to show us this, but it certainly amplified things. Healthcare workers, front line workers, teachers - you are the heroes of this whole pandemic. You fought for us. In your exhaustion, you pushed through so we could live and have a future. We should remain forever grateful!
Health and wellness matter. We should be taking better care of our bodies. We are not machines and have limits. We need rest and strong bodies to fight off illness. May we make our health and wellness more of a priority moving forward.
Positive healthy mental health takes work. We can no longer sit around and wait for circumstances, authorities, media or others to boost our attitude. It is up to us. Joy is a choice we must fight for through worship and gratitude.
We are a world in heavy need of more compassion. Our hearts are weary, but maybe God needs to get us there to soften to our brothers and sisters both alike and different. While we think we have an answer for everything, each soul has a story we know nothing about. May we be less careless with our words, actions and posts moving forward.
It starts with us. Sometimes in the busyness of life, it is easy to blame others. We don’t listen to the stories, we move on. But when life slows down, we have to listen to other’s stories. We tend to lean in more and crave connection. May we slow down more and listen more.
We need more humor! Life is hard. A funny meme or video would be enough to get this family out of its funk during hard days. So let’s choose laughter.
Proverbs 17:22 MSG “A cheerful disposition is good for your health; gloom and doom leave you bone-tired.”Gratitude is a muscle that needs to be trained. Slowing down helped me realize all that I had to be grateful for. Gratitude is not my go-to emotion; actually I way more sarcastic (read negative) at times. I learned to practice gratitude through writing, walking, words, and/or songs. Either way we need to practice gratitude.
Our peace is ours to preserve. Turns out we can not gain peace from the world. Honestly, I do try between the latest fashion, hair gadget to amazon prime, but our peace is ours to preserve.
No matter what changes occur, He is still good. I had to get real quiet to be able to really believe this one, just being honest. With so much loss, pain and negativity, I spent a lot of time asking God, “what the heck?” and “where are You?. In the quiet of His Word and His Grace, I was reminded that we are not promised pain-free living, but we are promised His Presence. His Presence beside me, before me and beyond me. He restores my soul like nothing else can.
Listen friends, 2020 was not the first year that we have all seen pain. We are warriors having walked through pain in all our pasts. One thing that is universal is pain and change. Let’s stand strong into 2021 with faith, trust and laughter!
Love, B
