Its day 179
of Spring Break. Spring Break has had
more curve balls that I think any of us really ever expected. The seasons have changed nearly three
times. We started in winter and have
almost landed in fall. Pumpkin Spice
Lattes are in hands and back packs are loaded with face masks and hand
sanitizer. It took 179 days for Spring
Break to finish. And it did. Finally. Already.
For those
of us in British Columbia, March 17th, 2020 brought us to a common
ground. Astronomically, globally, we found a
common ground throughout the same month. People that never would
have thought they had anything in common now did. Within moments so much changed. In my home our one room living room/dining
room/playroom also became a preschool, high school and elementary classroom. As parents we either panicked or froze. Who was going to teach our kids? How were we going to work? Were we going to be able to work? How were we
going to pay bills? Am I going to get sick?
Are my loved ones going to get sick?
Will we be okay? Does our home
have enough bandwidth? Fridge’s all over were adorned with schedules of
home school routines and who was ZOOMing on which device and when. Meme’s flocked the internet of parents
admitting they were wrong about their child’s angelic behaviour and intellect
and home delivery from liquor stores skyrocketed. Now was the time to go out collecting
bottles.
Vocabulary
changed. “Unprecedented”, “social
distancing,” and “speaking moistly” became terms that entered our lives and
have yet to leave. Toilet paper,
sanitizer, yeast and canned goods became as valuable as gold. The apocalypse was upon us. There was a
glimmer of hope that my blacksmith training may come in handy for weapon
forgery… it didn’t… sadly.
Breadmaking,
home reno’s and DIY face masks became quests of what felt like everyone. When stores sell out of puzzles, quilting
fabric and elastic cord, and adults start saying “It’s a Tiktok”, you know that you are now in desperate times.
Since bread
is neither Keto or easily gluten free I quickly jumped on the puzzle
wagon. I think I completed 10 in the
first two weeks. I also rebuilt some 15 Lego sets... and reorganized every piece into organized colour coded bins. Puzzles quickly became
old and unavailable, so I jumped on the next wagon… home reno’s. From what I can remember… here is my list:
·
Repair
and paint holes or dings in walls
·
Paint
bedroom wall
·
Paint
locker
·
Paint
bed frame
·
Refurbish
solid oak table (dated 1899) graciously given to my family
·
Decorate
small deck
o
Add
lighting
o
Add
carpet
o
Add
plants
o
Add
chair and comfy blanket
o
Kill
first plant… add another…
·
Create
a garden wall on the large deck
·
Build
three -3 tier garden boxes.
·
Plant a full garden
·
Repair
gate
·
Repair
laundry room light wiring
·
Replace
dining room light switch
·
Reno
hall closet
·
Reorganize
storage room
·
Rip
out old back splash in kitchen and replace with a new one
·
Reno
and DIY Kitchen cabinets with trim, new hinges and paint (dated 1983… can’t
make them any worse)
Can’t help but think I’m missing something…
All of this was great… but how much more could
I do? I needed something else, so I
began a search for a new craft hobby.
Something that had supplies still available in the world… Alas, all the ‘paint by numbers’ were sold
out. Macramé it was! I started with a small wall hanging and soon
moved on to a 4 foot one. Quickly I moved
onto more intricate work and created a “Tree of Life” 8-inch hoop using only
1mm thread. My favourite by far. My walls are getting a little too full of
macramé now… good thing Spring Break is coming to an end. All of this 'busy hands' business gave my brain extra time to think and process.
When I first learned that lock down was happening,
I decided that I wanted the time off work to mean something. I am not sure exactly what I meant by it. I just
know that I didn’t want all the time off to be spent on puzzles, rebuilding
Lego sets, reno’s and knotted string art projects. I started digging into God’s word more and
more. I read several books on seeking
God’s direction and on finding strength in the midst of life’s storms. I think we can all agree this has been a bit
of a storm. My favourite book that I read by far is
titled “It’s Not Supposed to Be This Way” by Lysa Terkeurst. Seriously. It’s good stuff. Lysa talks about the process of dust making
and rebuilding. I can’t help but wonder
if this isn’t what we are going through as a global, national and local
community. Imagine a challenge that has
come your way. Maybe it has come about
because of Covid or perhaps it is completely unrelated. Imagine that challenge as being like a broken
bowl. A few cracks or chips and you can
easily glue it back together. Now
imagine that bowl is Correlle. You know
what I mean. It doesn’t just chip or
crack, it explodes into a million tiny shards.
You aren’t putting it back together.
Not on your own, and not even with a professional. In her book Lysa paints the picture of
needing to become like dust, not so that we can be put back together, but so
that God can make us into something completely new. Scary right? But exciting at the same
time. And really, do we really want to be put back
together exactly as we were?
I think about my own life and how it had become
really isolated even before lock down. We
went about our days, put the kids to bed, got cleaning or work done and went to
bed myself only to start the whole cycle again the next day. Rarely meeting with friends. Rarely inviting friends into my home. Rarely doing much but standard routine. Covid actually expanded my circle. Previous to lock down I wasn’t able to attend
my Life Group as I was having challenges with my youngest being away from me. When it went online, I gained back my social
group. It hit me one day that ZOOMing
our meetings meant that for the first time we were ‘in’ each other’s homes,
albeit virtually. Some drank wine
together while others ate snacks and got interrupted by kids who refused to
sleep or by kids who needed more screen time approval. We would roll our eyes as we all understood
what the other was going through. While
physically our doors may have been closed, they virtually opened. It was kind of cool. I was reminded of the first church and how
through living in community many came to believe. I find myself wondering what will change
going forward. Will we lose the virtual community
and go right back to isolating our lives?
Or will we see the value in being with each other and seek opportunities
to gather in each other’s homes with no program or schedule needed to ensure it
happens? Will we allow Covid’s routine
shattering be the dust making of our regular routines so that something new can
be created? Something more beautiful
than we ever imagined?
Will we take our new hobbies and keep them for
ourselves or will we share them with others?
Will we charge others for services or will we
give freely when we can?
Will we question the reason behind a person’s
empty fridge, or will we just go buy them groceries without judgement?
Will we offer to watch a person’s children so
they can have a break? Even if we think
that they have it fairly easy? Even if
we think we have enough on our own plate?
Will we help tutor a neighbour’s child or teach
a kid how to play piano? Without
charging? Just because we can?
Will we eat alone every day or will we open
our doors, set our table, light a candle and share a meal and conversation with
our friends?
Will we invite our community in? Or will we shut them out, because who knows
what kind of people they are?
Will we be comfortable allowing friends into
our homes? Even if our home is a mess?
If my vacuum is broken, can I borrow
yours? Can “yours” become “ours”?
Can “my mess” become “our mess”? Can we start to do this life together?
Dust.
What will you allow God to shape out of it?
