"The Good Things in life are. . . "
We have just gone through a horrendous year, but have we really? So may disappointments. Lock down became a real word. It's been a total change of life. I also know that at the same time we gained much. But we cant's see it because of the darkness and gloom that surrounds us. For a minute we need to think about how much our daily lives have been impacted by the pandemic, both negatively and positively.
You and I can make a list of things we lost. That's just human nature, we seem to always itemize our losses and never give a nod to what we have gained even if asked. We continually ream them off from memory not missing a beat. I mention this because we are a people who seem to focus more on what we don't have then what we do.
I want to change the conversation right now. We gained cleaner air; not that it wasn't clean before all this happened. At one time Humboldt, Sask. had the cleanest air in Canada. Canada has some of the cleanest air on the planet because of all the trees we have in this country. Sure, go and hug a tree today. But the whole world gained this. We spent less on gasoline because we didn't drive as much. But this was only part of the reason. We walk more, cycle more and not in a gym with treadmills & stationary bikes.
Zoom, Skype and Messenger have positively changed our lives more than we could have imagined. Case in point, we didn't make the journey to England last summer but we spend more time with our relatives in England on Messenger than we could have if we flew over for a fortnight. Cost = zero.
Someone mentioned the other day that they have gotten to know their kids in a deeper way then they knew them before. We spend most of our time with those in our 'bubble'. On tv just the other day they told us about a family that has slowly but surely connected with their extended family on Zoom. Now they gather together every week.
My bible has for years told me that God is about relationships. It's us with each other and us with Him. We have gained so much that we in some ways never knew it was there. We learned that the most important thing is each other. Things don't seem to matter as much anymore, especially with me. What does matter are people.
Barbara Streisand said it best:
People,
People who need people,
Are the luckiest people in the world
We're children, needing other children
And yet letting a grown-up pride
Hide all the need inside
Acting more like children than children
But more so, I believe many of us have reconnected to the God who created us to need Him.
Something to think about.
Rob