This year, perhaps more than ever, most of us are happy to put the past year behind us. The coronavirus has been an obvious dark cloud that has hung over the whole world for most of the year. Marked by loss of fundamental freedoms, increasing divisiveness and widespread economic hardship, 2020 could easily be viewed as a disaster. The tremendous increases in addictions, abuse and suicide provide stark testimony to the hardships faced by so many in dealing with the changes wrought by the coronavirus and our society’s efforts to control the spread of the illness. As people of faith, we would be remiss in not taking at least one last long look back at 2020 to see how the Holy Spirit may have used this time of struggle to remind us of some very important and beautiful truths.
Limitations and Benefits
One of the first impressions I recall from the early days of the pandemic was that we would be moving into a period of profound change that might endure for a long time. As government officials quickly imposed controls, we came to realize that we had two choices: we could resist those changes or we could acquiesce and seek to find joy in other ways. As we faced lockdowns and stay-at-home orders, Crystal and I soon found ourselves enjoying the simplicity of daily life. Freed from the distractions of our self-imposed busyness, we had a chance to enjoy more time to ourselves, rekindling an intimacy that comes from spending more time with each other. It was wonderful to sense a renewed awareness of the needs of the other and a fuller acceptance of each other’s, dare I say, idiosyncrasies.
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Kevin Sullivan
