Hi how are you all? I am great and still on holidays at the beach. On this last night of 2020 I would like us to do a little reflection of this year.
January 2020- we were all excited to start a new year. Maybe some of us, like me, had a challenging 2019 and were eager to start a new year. Maybe you made some resolutions in January that you were going to get closer to God, try for a promotion at work, study hard to receive good grades in school, lose weight, exercise more and maybe something else.
The theme for my blog in 2020 was the year of restoration and I wrote a few blogs on that process. What I didn’t realise at the time was that God was calling each of us deeper this year, which we will discuss soon.
February was a similar month to January and we had all settled into the new year. However, what was around the corner was something most of us didn’t see coming.
March 2020 is a month most won’t forget. It was the month where most of our worlds were turned upside down. Most of the world went into lockdown. That meant no overseas travel, no vacations, for some- no work, for others- changing the way we work – mainly at home, homeschooling kids and crazy behaviour like hoarding toilet paper.
Over the course of April to December, we have seen our normal turn upside down. But what have we learnt?
1. God is good all the time and He is still with us no matter what is happening. We might not have been able to go to church but we could still watch and be involved. Online church tested the strength of many people’s relationship with God. Were we going to church to socialise or to worship? It tested our motives and for most of us, strengthened our relationship with God.
2. People became more important than things. Things consume us each and every day. We work to obtain things and then spend our time maintaining them. But this year when we spent all day with our things, we realise they don’t satisfy us. Only relationships with people do that. We realised that those chit chat conversations became important and we missed them. We missed the physical contact with others- video didn’t seem the same. When we came out of lockdown, we just wanted to see people.
This year has taught us more than any other year that the two greatest commandments- love God and love others are vital to our well being. If we don’t nurture our relationship with God, we feel a sense of hopelessness and depression( many have struggled with that this year). If we don’t love others, we become self seeking and miserable.
As we go into 2021 reflect on 2020 and see what it has taught you. If like me, you come out of 2020 loving God and others more, then 2020 has been a blessing. Happy new year to you all and keep living the life God intended for you.
Bless you heaps
Karen
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