Like a horse creeping away from the mounting block, his rider still adjusting her stirrups, as we creep into another year, adjusting and re-adjusting, pandemic life is taking its toll.
I heard today on the radio, pandemic fatigue is creeping into exhaustion for more Canadians than ever.
“Whoa, how did we get here?”
“I just want things to get back to NORMAL”
The resolutions of January; our traditional time to halt- and take some steps back.
We’re longing for “normal” rhythms of life. But was life before lockdowns really normal? I mean, life as it ought to be?
Even before the pandemic, rates of anxiety and loneliness were creeping higher -especially in our young people. Virtual-living may have tipped a pre-existing condition into addiction – finding escape in screens and substances.
I’m reading a book “The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry” by John Mark Comer. In it, a quote from the 1st president of Facebook, Sean Parker.
“God only knows what it’s doing to our childrens’ brains. The thought process that went into building these apps…was all about, ‘How do we consume as much of your time and conscious attention as possible?’”
Maybe we need to head back to the mounting block.
- Does it seem media keeps pushing the limits a little further to grab our attention? What was shocking 20 years ago, brings only a shrug today – it’s “normal”.
- Does it seem that “continuous partial attention” is our new normal?” Microsoft researcher Linda Stone.
Whoa! Somewhere deep inside I think we have a sense, almost like a distant memory of Life as it Ought to Be – maybe even as God designed us to be. We’re literally getting sick of remote-life and longing for real eye contact …and hugs. If we’re honest, much of our culture seemed to be “progressing” out of control but we were too distracted to do anything about it.
On the other side of this, MAY WE NOT REMAIN UNCHANGED.
What if we resume life as normal without pausing to ponder life as it should be ?
We might fail to strain the hidden gift out of a “Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad” situation.
“Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord.”
Written 586 BC – a song of grief from a man reflecting on the destruction of his home, Jerusalem, and the exile of his beloved people after the Babylonian invasion.