“I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience. I know no way of judging my future but by its past.” Patrick Henry (Founding Father) Virginia March 23, 1775
I wanted to start off with a little advice from one of America’s founding fathers, Patrick Henry. Why would a quote from him be so prevalent today, especially during the time of
Learning from our past mistakes is paramount for obvious reasons. If I was a jerk about something I obviously don’t want to keep repeating it, that would be dumb and stupid. Covid-19 has pushed us all to the brink of insanity. I have my personal ways of staying sane, but for many, days of isolation are terribly hard. What’s not helping matters are all the insane conspiracy theories that are flying all over social media. Who actually did this to the world? China? American soldiers? Opinion and speculation answer these questions, leaving us all with a bad taste in our mouth. I even have my own theories, but will leave those little floaties locked away in my head where they belong.
One way of staying sane and not get looped into all the conspiracy theories going back and forth is to stop watching the 24 hours news channels. Sorry. Apparently, the world has stopped and nothing else is going on in the world except the coronavirus. The riots in Hong Kong stopped. The civil war in Syria is over; by the way, who won? North Korea and Iran aren’t making nuclear warheads. US politics has come to a screeching halt. I mean, talk about shutting us off from the rest of the world. Did the bad guys decide to do the shut-in right along with the rest of us? Have they put all their devious plans on hiatus?
I can’t answer any of those questions, I can only see what’s going on in my little teeny tiny part of the world. What I see are Americans jumping in to help one another. Praying for one another. It’s a beautiful sight to see when one bypasses the negativity and stops to enjoy the positive. My church did a drive-in at the Heart Hospital and prayed for everyone inside, then all the car flashed their lights to let the hospital know they were there. Do you know what happened? The hospital flashed its lights back. People are making masks, shopping for friends that can’t get out to do it for themselves, checking on neighbors, and doing driveby birthdays. Our goodness is shining bright. Where did all this human kindness come from? Has it always been there?
Romans 12:9-13 says, Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Wow! It’s amazing the things we get to see our community do when the rest of the world goes dark. God’s commands go into practice and we shine bright as humans. We get a moment to show the bad guys what goodness, joy, and hope looks like. We can be proud of those ‘Remember when’ moments as we look back to 2020, the year Covid-19 made the world stop and God’s children shine. When we look back at this time and see what we did, our future holds endless possibilities. We were created to love and honor one another and I’m happy to know that my family, friends, and church, have stepped up and done a fabulous job.
If we are to judge our future by what we have done in the past, then I would have to say, the year 2020 is the year we can all look back on as the lamp of experience that will guide our future.
Love to you all,
Larissa