...Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go. Joshua 1:9
I want to tell you something. And since you are here, reading my blog, I assume you came with the intention of hearing what I had to say. So… Here goes...
I am so proud of you.
Honestly.
Is that weird? For me to say that? Because, for goodness sake, I may not even know you.
You may have just clicked on my blog out of curiosity. You may live halfway across the country… or halfway across the globe for that matter. And… Even if I do know you, it may seem strange for me to profess my pride, when in fact, you probably feel like you are just trudging along in your average life, doing average things, making an average amount of head-way in your average existence. Which, let’s face it, you’re probably right.
But, guess what? That is why I am proud of you.
Well, really, one of the many reasons why. You, trudging along in your average existence is worthy of acknowledgement. It is worthy of praise. You, making a (seemingly) average amount of head-way is in fact, miraculous.
Stick with me here.
If you are reading this blog post on the day it was published or in a relatively close time period after its publishing, you have just become part of world history. The COVID-19 Global Pandemic is historic. It will be a part of human history for the foreseeable future. And as with any historic event, the participants of that event will forever be changed.
Think about September 11, 2001. If you are an American and over the age of 30, I expect you remember where you were when the Twin Towers fell. You will remember the impact it had on your thinking of domestic security and terrorism. If nothing else, it impacted the way we travel by air, even to this day. Prior to 9/11, another historic event which my parent’s generation seem to remember in great detail, even down to their whereabouts, was November 22, 1963; the Kennedy assassination. Older generations had May 8, 1945; the end of World War II, Pearl Harbor was bombed on December 7, 1941 and November 11, 1918 was the end of the Great War. Every era has its history. These dates, these eras, are historic. We are living now, making history… And you’re a part of it (whether you like it or not).
That’s why I’m proud. I’m proud to be making history with you…
But… There’s another part, too. I’m proud of the choices you’ve had to make. So many choices. All impacted by the reality of our circumstances. Did you know that decision-fatigue is a real thing? We get tired when we have decisions to make. For the last year, or so, YOU have been making decisions, HARD decisions, literal life-or-death decisions. Decisions about health risks, decisions about family safety, decisions about priorities, decisions about your work, your faith, even the manner in which you buy your groceries. Down to the most minute detail, you have had to make HARD decisions. You decided how you would navigate the election process. You decided how your family would navigate the holidays. You made decisions to change mundane practices that you always took for granted in order to make them safer for yourself and others (as in dining out, going to the library, movies, haircuts, even the veterinarian). Very little of what we knew twelve months ago has gone unchanged.
And that is worthy of some praise and celebration. These things were hard. They sometimes seemed silly or even stupid. But, you did them. You trusted yourself. You trusted others. You trusted the process. Trust has been a step in our course of making history.
And it’s another reason why I’m proud of you.
You had to trust so many individuals and organizations. You had to trust your boss and the decisions they made for your workplace. If you are the boss, you had to make the decisions and trust that your colleagues would trust you. You’ve had to trust your health professionals. You’ve had to trust your news sources (as difficult as that can be), you’ve had to trust your government (again, hard), you’ve had to trust your friends, family, coworkers, neighbors and even the strangers you encounter on an everyday level. The amount of trust that it has taken to navigate a global health crisis, is staggering. But you’ve done it! Sometimes gritting your teeth... Sometimes complaining your face off… Sometimes trusting and then realizing that your trust was broken, which makes the next opportunity for trust all the more difficult. But again: you have done it! Good for you!
In the book of Joshua, the Bible tells us to be strong and courageous. It also says that we should not be terrified or discouraged because God is with us. How difficult it has been to obey these instructions! I have personally felt more discouragement and terror in the last year than ever in my life. I have felt weak and fearful on a regular basis.
But there is a promise behind the instruction.
God is with us. He is with us regardless of our circumstance. When we make the decisions we’ve had to make for the past year, when we trust processes and people, we are living out Joshua 1:9. We are being strong. It may not feel that way, but we are. We are being courageous when we do hard things. We are trusting God’s promise of his presence in each step we take of making history. It’s difficult and unpleasant, but we are doing it. You are doing it.
And God is proud of you.
My pride pales in comparison to the Father’s pride for you. He is beaming, smiling, singing over you. He delights in you. You are the apple of his eye; his image-bearer.
The COVID-19 pandemic is far from over. I know that it’s impact will continue to reach far and wide. However, we are learning. We are growing. We are acting out with courage and strength. We are making decisions. And we are trusting.
This is all good for our community and ultimately good for our world... And that good has come from you. So, thank you. And remember, I’m proud of you.
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