2020 Reflections

Today’s reading:  Ecclesiastes 3:1-14

Can you believe we made it to the last day of 2020?  What a year it has been.  Has the first global pandemic in your lifetime, the far reaching impacts of racial injustice and the polarizing political divide changed you?  Do you think you are the same person today as you were last January 1?

For most of the year, I felt like I weathered the storms of 2020 pretty well.  But I am no longer the same person.  I’m weary.  As winter drags on, I am intellectually bored to tears, dying for an exciting challenge to rescue me from wasting away.  If you can’t stand me right now, I’m not surprised, I can barely stand myself!  While my brain knows this is just a season that will eventually change, my heart still struggles.  In preparing for this post today, one of my favorite passages of scripture kept coming to mind:

There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens (Ecclesiastes 3:1).

a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance (Ecclesiastes 3:4).

a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away (Ecclesiastes 3:6).

He has made everything beautiful in its time (Ecclesiastes 3:11).

Read verse 11 again.  Do you believe it?  Do you trust God will make everything beautiful in his time?  I do.  When I stop thinking about myself and shift my attitude to gratefulness, I look back over 2020 and see several unexpected blessings God gave me  –

  • More time with my husband and kids – this is the most time we’ve spent together in years
  • More time for healthy habits – I am in the best shape of my life and feeling great
  • More time to cultivate friendships – less busyness has given me more time to spend focusing on others

As we get ready to embark on 2021, who knows what it will bring.  I hope it is better than 2020, but it may be worse.  What I know for sure is God has it under control.

Because he lives, I can face tomorrow.  Because he lives, all fear is gone.  Because I know he holds the future, and life is worth a living just because he lives (Bill and Gloria Gaither, 1971) .