Prioritizing What's Important

I've been trying to wrap my head around the events of the last two weeks.  As with all of you, literally out of nowhere life as I knew it changed.  Even three months ago, I could not have imagined that the world would turn into the kind of scene that movies are made of.  A virus sweeping the world, taking everyone off guard, closing down entire cities, and forcing people to stay home.

Yet, in the midst of this, I can't help but think about what life will look like when this self-isolation and social-distancing is over.

There are only two choices to make in times like these:  1: Live paralyzed by fear.  2. Live intentionally with the purpose to grow in the midst of adversity.

I urge us to choose to live intentionally.

When the self-isolation and social-distancing is over, I want to be someone who is stronger because of it.  I want my relationship with God to be stronger because of it.  I want my relationships with others to be stronger because of it.  In a moment that is being used to cause distance between people and questions of God, can we turn it around instead to dive deeper into these relationships?

Can we use the moments of quiet that we normally would fill by going out and staying busy to instead just sit and seek the face of God?  Will we be willing and open to just embrace the stillness to really, truly come before the throne of God and just spend time with Him?

And secondly, will we choose to be intentional to reach out to the people in our lives and build deeper, more meaningful relationships with them?  Though physically distant, could it be possible that this season can be used to lay aside the surface aspects of life so that we can grow in deeper unity with those God has placed around us?

I find it so fascinating that over the last few days, people I haven't seen or talked to in years have reached out to say "Stay safe!"  We are all in this together.  There is no discrimination - we are ALL in this together.

Could it be that in this moment, the most important things are prioritized once again?  Love the Lord your God and love your neighbour as yourself (Matt 22:37-39).  Let this be the desire of our hearts and our motivation to thrive in this historic moment.