These few days between Christmas and New Year Day always feel a bit strange. Like there should be more room to breathe between the bustle of Christmas and the turning of the calendar. During these few days, it is common the think back and plan ahead.
The newspapers and channels are filled with “year in review” reports. But this was a strange year. A once in a Hundred Years kind of strange which many would rather forget. And many of our friends and neighbors have suffered loss. Perhaps the death of a loved one, but also loss of employment, freedom, and milestones of life. At the same time, there are some indicators of wholeness, like the stock markets being above their pre-covid highs, and yet there are many who are out of work and businesses closed.
They say that hindsight is 20/20, a cliché that may need to be changed after this year. And yet, there is some truth in it. Looking back helps us see our mistakes and also those unexpected corners that God helped us through. Looking back also underscores the lessons we have learned along the way, whether we recognized it at the time or not.
There is always a personal uniqueness to those lessons, even when the world has gone through the shared experience of living through a pandemic. While I offer a few of the lessons I see, what you see may be different.
- Don’t believe everything you hear. There was plenty of misinformation spewed last year. Some of it unintentional, some of it downright evil. The truth is we didn’t know much about Covid or how to deal with it, so rumors filled the vacuum.
- Think before you run. People act like cattle at times. Fear can drive a herd into a stampede. How many times did people react out of fear in a herd-like mentality last year? It seems that fear bounced us around a lot last year. Some of them real, but many times the fear was just vapor.
- The church will find a way. While I miss the real-life gatherings of church, something that has been a routine part of my life since childhood, it is amazing how churches have adapted and found new ways to share and care.
- People are a strange amalgam of good and evil. During this past year, we’ve seen extreme acts of good and of evil. Some generously, even self-sacrificially, helping others while others only helped themselves and destroyed the labor of others. The various troubles of 2020 boiled both good and evil to the surface for all to see.
- Never doubt the adaptability of humanity. It’s interesting, most folks hate change, but when forced to it, we can adapt in gigantic leaps. And this year had many challenges to overcome and adapt to.
- God is with us – if we let Him. We have been asked to trust our leaders, trust the science, trust the experts. None have proved to be always trustworthy. While my trust for some of those “founts of wisdom” has decreased, my trust in God has grown. He is the only one that is totally trustworthy.
I am interested to hear your list of lessons learned. They are important and valuable. After all, hindsight is 2020.
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Ive learnt so much from the different bible studied namely
Importance of refering to my Bible for spiritual growth, during trials and tribulations
Importance of building my soul and feeding it daily
Importance of faith
Love of family, community, self
Forgiveness and endurance
Non judgmental tendency
Above all self love and the deep love of Christ