Now that the world is opening up again….
6.21.21
Now that the world is opening up again after a year of being sequestered in our homes with our immediate families, we need to take the time to acknowledge the lessons that the COVID-19 has raised in us about our country, about our lives as they were before the pandemic so changed our lives.
On the national level, we need to acknowledge that our system has created masses of poor people who have little access to health care, good education and good jobs. So many of the poor are our ‘essential workers,’ but they get little money and most likely no benefits for working these difficult, exposed-to-everything kind of jobs. While our CEO’s salaries have gone up 1.000 percent since the 1970’s, these essential workers’ wages have only increased 11.5 percent during the same time period.
Health care is so expensive for our poorer neighbors that they mostly don’t even try and since rural hospitals have been closing, the cost of getting to a hospital may be prohibitive or not even possible.
Racism is still rampant at all levels of our national functioning. When will we live as if our motto is true: “All men are created equal.”
And what am I called by God to do about these areas of our lives together?
On a personal level, COVID-19 has raised many questions about our work, our lives and how we really want to live. If we take the time to really assess what works for us, and forget the culture’s standards for how we are supposed to live, we have a chance to set goals for ourselves that really suit us, rather than just responding to the cultural norms. Do we really need all the material goods our ads say we should buy? Do we really need to stay in jobs that are not fulfilling to us? What is it that I/we really want to do with our lives? With our family?
These questions may not sound like a spiritual assessment, but they point to the real questions:
What do I really want to do with my life?
What is fulfilling to me at the deepest level of who I was created to be?
What brings me joy and real satisfaction rather than momentary happiness that
vanishes the moment I think of the next thing on my list to acquire?
And most important of all,
What way of life is God asking of me, suggesting to me, leading me to?
As we take this opportunity to assess the ground of our being, thanks to COVID-19, we have a chance to live full, productive, fulfilling, joy-filled, purposeful lives. And that is what God is now calling us to do.