March 31, 2021
Twenty twenty stretched us, and we couldn’t wait to reach 2021. Now we have three months of 2021 under our tight fitting belts, and some of us are still just continuing to survive. We think, “Shouldn’t it be better than this? Shouldn’t I have already bounced back?”
People describe it different ways. I feel trapped. I feel stuck. I am not happy anymore. I feel depressed. I feel helpless. I am so wrapped up.
Life is hard, and that’s not news to any living, breathing human being. We work hard and don’t get the promotion. We have plans that never happen. We want a disease to be cured, but it sticks around.
And we may feel as if our lives are more complicated than anyone else’s. I know I’ve been guilty of this. When the twins were babies, and I only slept a broken up 3 hours a night. When they were one and getting heavier to carry but couldn’t quite walk on their own. When they were two and not only learned how to walk but how to run in opposite directions. When they were three, and Allen was a newborn. It was easy for me to feel like I was the only one exhausted. It was easy to lose sight that the level of neediness in my children was a season and wouldn’t last forever. In the middle of circumstances, it is so easy to be overcome and lose sight of the bigger picture.
Twenty twenty was a season. Many of us would have volunteered to have skipped it altogether if we’d known what was coming. But 2021 is a season too. And 2022. Some people make sense of seasons by years and dates. We joke with my mother-in-law because she loves to talk about her childhood and remembers it vividly. She says, “When I was 8 years old and just starting 3rd grade…” But others of us look at seasons as significant periods of time. It’s like our childhood was one big ball, not really linear events, and it’s only the important memories that stand out. We have no idea what we were doing when we were 8 years old at the beginning of 3rd grade.
Whether you think of seasons linearly with every detail or you clump seasons together and only remember the important parts, this pandemic season is not one that many will just forget about.
And if you’re struggling with “bouncing back,” it’s important to remember that life is hard for everyone and you’re not alone. Jesus on the night he was betrayed asked God to spare him the pain of the cross. He had the power of God living inside of him, but his circumstances here on earth were dark and his human nature was weak. And in that human weakness, He got alone and sought out strength from His Father. We are the same, my friends, and need to follow His example. In bleak circumstances, we mustn’t lose sight of the bigger picture. And the bigger picture is filled with hope. Jesus gave us victory over any darkness and sent us a Comforter when He left. When we spend time in prayer as Jesus did, we have that same strength to keep going in all seasons. That’s how Jesus bounced back and conquered death. And that’s how we bounce back, too.
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