Will We Learn the Lessons?
The quality of your days reflects the wisdom of your schedule. We have all been given a gift. Life has been altered for us in so many ways. We are doing without many things that were part of our daily life. We are living a stripped-down existence. “Essential businesses”. “Essential activities.” Taking extra time to do things like wash our hands – thoroughly. Some will fill the time with frivolity. And frivolity in moderation is ok. Times like these reveal us to ourselves. We get a chance to gain perspective. To step outside ourselves and take a look at…us. What do you see? What is this time showing you? Pay attention. The signs are there. The signs may be everywhere. What do you miss? What do you not miss? Because you’re reading this, what did you just realize you’re not missing?
There’s SO MUCH time. Many who live a life of never having enough hours in the day now suddenly realize that there are 24 of them. And if you pay attention closely, they take A LONG TIME to pass. A friend of mine once said, “Life is short; but the days are long.” Everything is relative. Einstein is rumored to have explained relativity to non-scientists as follows: “Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. That’s relativity.” He also famously said that time exists so that everything doesn’t happen at once. For many of us, it feels like so many things actually DO happen all at once. But now we see differently. Anais Nin said, “We don’t see things as they are. We see things as WE are.” This a powerful, magical, providential time to look at things. To really look. To see them not as we are; but to endeavor to see them as they are.
Humans throughout history have had the same 24 hours each day. We can examine how we were spending them now. We have time. And make changes. That habit you’ve been forced to break because of COVID-19. That new activity you’ve begun with the extra time you have. The relationship you’re actually investing in right now. The thank you note you wrote. The walk you took. The pushups you did. The book you read. The meal you cooked. The prayers you’ve started saying. The birds you noticed outside. The call you made instead of texting. All because we stopped.
Charles Dickens wrote, It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope…”. Yes. It is. Which one is largely up to you.
