Never Going Back
As another week goes by in quarantine, emotions are high, kids are bored, the feelings of being stuck at home are getting the best of everyone. As I talk to family and friends the one thing I keep hearing people say is they just can’t wait for things to go back to normal. Shoot, I was right there with them until a few days ago. Have you ever had a day that everything you are going through or facing just seems a little extra heavier then normal? After a very overwhelming, mentally exhausting day my husband walked through the door and I told him I just needed a break from being mom, wife, caregiver, teacher, and everything in between for a few moments to myself. I went upstairs, locked my bedroom door, turned on some worship music, and just cried my heart out. You see it wasn’t anything “big ” that happened, it was all the little things that got to me and that is when I realized I was on the road to burn out if I didn’t take a time out.
So as I sat on my bed, worship music blaring, and crying out to the Lord; I was comforted by the Holy Spirit. It was in that moment of wanting life to return to normal as we knew it, that the Lord began to speak. Thoughts of what normal meant or what “normal” was for my family, for our lives, and for the world began to flash in my head. We as a family were always busy, traveling, going, doing, working, helping, etc that when we had a day of not doing anything we always found something to do. Then the slow down from the quarantine hit and everything we knew was shut down, closed, and put on hold, we as a family started spending more time together enjoying each others company and less time distracted by running around or out of the house. We have gone on family bike rides, taken drives just to enjoy nature, played games, done puzzles, enjoyed movie nights in the big bed, glow baths, and face masks.
The quality time and memories we have made as a family along with the joy we all seem to have even on the hardest of days makes me think going back to normal isn’t an option; instead what if this is our new normal? What if this new normal was a way for God to move us forward to a better normal? A normal for us as a family of stillness, joy, and quality time or a new normal for the world of stillness, gratefulness, gratitude, and a new appreciation for life itself? Because let’s be honest maybe the normal we had all grown accustomed to wasn’t working, maybe this is our second chance to make the world a better place by first changing each of our households?
I don’t know the reasons or why we are going through and facing everything that is going on in the world, but I do know that God sometimes brings us to a desert to build our faith, grow our trust, and turn our eyes back to him. He has mighty plans for each and every one of our lives, but sometimes we have to travel through the desert of things we don’t understand to accomplish them. So I challenge you to look at this time in quarantine as a desert, taking you away from the fast paced normal you use to know and moving you forward to a new simpler and even better normal.
