On January 5th, 2020, I sat in a church pew with my family—and listened while my dad preached a sermon for the New Year.
“In 2020” he started, “things will change.”
Oh, if only we had known then how much they would. Or maybe, thank goodness that we didn’t know!
At the time, my dad had no idea about COVID-19 on the horizon, the results of the pregnancy test I had taken in the bathroom that morning, my four-year-old son’s whispered prayer asking Jesus to be his Savior only moments later, or countless other changes heading our way. He was simply expressing the truth and reality of change.
“In 2020, things will change. So…” he went on, “how will we respond?”
I am not someone who has always lived in the moment well. I’m a dreamer who tends to wish away time for the next best thing, a runner who is prone to immerse myself in distractions to avoid pain. I used to thrive on the thrill and bliss of “not knowing” and now, too often, I clamor for answers that will ease my discomfort. But comfort has never been my goal, and sometimes there is a gift in not knowing.
The gift of not knowing is that we will have the patience to wait for the good stuff that lies ahead and the resolve to face the hard stuff. If we knew what was coming, we would either race ahead to the good or bolt the other direction from the experiences we never thought we would survive, but somehow will.
The not knowing, the living in the moment, allows us to simply live and release worry. It allows us to not get too far ahead of ourselves and not blame the government, or our neighbor, or the health care professionals, or COVID-19, or anyone else for anything really. It allows us to simply realize that nothing is guaranteed in life and the moment we are in is a gift. We can’t change a lot of what will happen to us—and everything can change in a moment—but we always have a choice in how we will respond.
The year 2020, stopped me in my tracks. I needed the reminder that, even when we feel in control, things can change—and worrying, running, lashing out, or dreaming up a different ending doesn’t change the things we can’t control. But our response can change the course of our lives.
When my response is to trust the only One who knows the future, I can rest easy to simply live a meaningful life in the moment I’m given. That’s the goal.
This past year, things have changed again. And things will continue to change as time passes. So... how will you respond?
