What will our new normal
look like? How and when do we return to normal? Those are the two questions
that seem dominate the airwaves, media stations and social media posts. And yet
no one has an adequate answer. We don’t
know the answer as a family, city, state, country, or world.
When I turned the calendar
this weekend to the month of May, I saw all the events that I had remained
hopeful would still happen. Clearly not.
My heart hurts for the loss
of the end of season competitions and end of year concerts. The speaking
engagements and retreats. The graduations and birthdays that won’t be
celebrated with friends. And I ache for the past. Even though these events
hadn’t occurred, they still somehow remain in the past, all the time remaining
a part of a future that now will not occur. Their very presence on the calendar
highlighting the fear and anxiety we feel about not being able to comprehend
life after the virus.
I took the eraser to the
page, because I know the only way to thrive in this time, is to live completely
in the present.
Stay in the present. Stay in
the present. Stay in the present.
In his 1941 The Screwtape
Letters, C.S.Lewis creatively warns the reader that to focus on the future or
the past is a temptation of the devil. Written from the perspective of one Sr. devil
to his Jr. devil apprentice, Lewis’s demonic character Screwtape instructs,
“There is nothing like suspense and anxiety for barricading a human’s mind
against the Enemy [God]. He [God], wants men to be concerned with what they do;
Our [evil] business is the keep them thinking about what will happen to them”.
Keep us thinking about that
will happen to them.
Keep us scared and worried.
Keep us focused on the
potential outcomes, which we cannot control.
Keep our minds off what we
can control.
Keep us from appreciating
the love that we have.
Keep us from seeing the beauty.
Keep us from doing good.
In a roundabout way, Lewis
suggests the solution to the fear and anxiety, is to not stay focused on the past.
The whimsical longings of days gone by are whole unproductive.
Similarly, focusing on the unknowns of the future is equally damaging. It is only by keeping our minds and our
hearts in the present, that we are able to fully live in love whatever the
circumstances.
Some of us are faced with
some dire circumstances and great unknowns. But the audience of Lewis’s initial
work were living and dying in extraordinary times as well.
Written initially as a
newspaper publication in 1941 for English citizens during World War II, The
Screwtape Letters gave the English reader a different perspective during a
challenging time. Americans may remember 1941 as the year we entered the war,
but this was the year of the Blitz, during which time 40,000 English were
killed, a million homes damaged or destroyed. Families sent their children out
of the city to live with foster families in the country. Citizens had curfews,
experienced rationing of food, and survived regular bombing raids. Our country
is faced with great difficulty now and although the struggles are different, the
personal solution is the same.
Turn your focus to the
present.
What does living the present
in the present circumstances mean for our daily life? I think St. Paul's letter
to the Philippians gives us the answer.
“Finally,
brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever
is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any
excellence, and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me. Then the God of peace will be with you.” Philippians 4:8-9.
Translation – Become more thankful. Learn to see
the beauty around you. Grow in your appreciation of the good. Notice the things that are worthy of praise.
Give praise where praise is due. And then do good. Be the good around you.
First notice, then act. Offer thanks when your mind starts to worry. Offer thanks when
your heart hurts. Offer thanks for the loved ones you miss desperately. Offer
thanks for the new opportunities this time has given you. And when you run out
of things to be thankful for, seek out new things. Look for them.
And then - Be the Good. Do good around you. Give
others something for which to be thankful for.
None of us knows that our world will look like
in 4 weeks or 4 months or 4 years. But
we don’t have too. All we have to do it take care of our hearts, our heads, and
our relationships today.
So do not worry and say,
‘What are we to eat?’ or ‘What are we to drink?’ or ‘What are we to wear?’ All these things the pagans seek. Your heavenly Father knows that you
need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all
these things will be given you besides. Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself. Sufficient for a day is its own evil.
– Matthew 6:31-34.
