We are in our sixth week of quarantine. How are you coping? What things are you going to take away from this experience? Have you ever noticed that when a challenge or an obstacle arises it brings out your worst? There is a reason for that.
Here’s an illustration to help you understand this. Say you have a cup of hot tea. When you bump that cup of tea, what comes out of it? Tea, of course.
The same is true with us. When we have a difficult situation come into our life that is the “bump,” and what comes out is what is in our hearts.
So during this Covid-19 crises, what is coming out of your heart making itself evident in your life?
My guess is one of the top things is lack of contentment.
So what is at the heart of not being content? It is an ungrateful spirit. If we are not thankful for what we have, then it is easy to complain about everything we do have. Paul tells us in I Thessalonians 5:18 “give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” No matter what the situation we are in, we should be thankful. We should even be thankful for the situation. That is the hardest thing to do, be thankful for the situation. Yet, Paul tells us in this verse to be thankful in every situation. Paul does not tell us that it will be easy, but he does tell us what to do. Be thankful in all circumstances.
During supper at my house, we have been sharing one thing we are thankful for. It has helped us to see the positives like a Zoom meeting with friends, a phone call, playing games with friends online, getting things done we didn’t have time for before, a delivery from Amazon. So many things that we used to take for granted, we now are thankful for.
I hope that this this crises is giving us a new appreciation for things that we once complained about.
Who used to dread going to the grocery store? Now, it’s our favorite thing to do.
What about going to church on Sunday? Did you barely make it in time or wish you could stay in bed longer? Now we can stay in bed till 1 minute before the service starts or we can even wake up and watch the service in our PJ’s in bed. Don’t you miss being with other believers?
How many of us wanted extra time to get some things done. Now we have that extra time to get extra things done. We might be careful what we wish for next timeJ
I would encourage you to think about what your take aways for this are going to be. Take some time (which you have) and consider what you have learned during this time.
Remember how valuable it is to have a schedule. Rather than getting to the end of your day and feeling like you accomplished nothing, arrive at the end of your day with a to-do list or a schedule with everything crossed off. I love the days I make a schedule and all that I am able to get done. I also have some days that I have a general guide to my days, but I leave a little margin in those days too. It is nice for me to have a balance of scheduled and unscheduled days. I appreciate them both more.
If you have not started finding something to be thankful for each day, start today. It will help you to become more content.
If you haven’t developed a schedule yet, start today. Set your schedule up for tomorrow and stick to it.
Don’t let this quarantine be a wasted time in your life. Make the most of your time. What is coming out when you are bumped?
