The shutdown due to COVID-19 shouldn’t mean a shutout. The question is, how do we start back up? Writers, for instance, know that facing a blank page is the most difficult obstacle. Where do you begin? What are the most important choices that will get the creative juices flowing again?
The virus has landed many of us in muddy sinkholes. But when it comes to moving forward, I’ve written three posts that might help you get out of your rut and grease the wheels to reach a bigger and better destination.
Remember all the responsibilities, schedules, and busyness that came to a jolting halt with the outbreak? Like you, I have been examining how I want to spend my time in the future. We are all going to need new ways of navigating our lives, and in my blog, Busyness and Wasted Years, I examine the subject and point out that busyness doesn’t necessarily mean productivity. Wheels can endlessly spin when they are stuck in the mud.
To free ourselves, we have to recognize the need for the right tools. Perhaps this break has shown you a few areas where you might be lacking expertise. Often, we get stuck in the mud because we avoid addressing real problems. We keep ourselves busy denying underlying sinkholes and avoid getting the help we need to find the source and fix them. My post on Facing Old Year Dilemmas with New Year Hope, focuses on understanding the difference between a problem, which is solvable, and a dilemma that is not, and knowing how to successfully overcome either option. Determining what can immediately be solved and what can only be resolved with God’s intervention is significant. Remember too that some mud holes have become trenches. They may have initially seemed small, but they are deeper than we thought.
Getting unstuck is solvable but it may not be resolved the way we thought.
Getting stuck is frustrating. We’ve all been guilty of slinging mud. Anger doesn’t get us down the road faster but only increases the tension in the situation and makes our holes even deeper. Perhaps the one good thing that has come out of COVID-19 is that it has forced us to stop. We’ve had to stop spinning our wheels, fretting, and take a breath remembering what God’s given us to use – a “sound mind.” (II Timothy 1:7).
Frustrating moments are guaranteed but God is our leverage. He’s the strength we can lean on during our slippery situations to come. He gives us a wedge of strength and protection for our wheel to grab because God is in control – always. As I wrote in this Charisma article, What to Do When You’re Lost and Lonely in Life’s Mess, God has given us thousands of promises in scripture to hold onto. As we emerge from COVID-19 we will hear about lots of “hopes,” but God has secured us with His unchanging promises.
Re-starting, re-opening, and re-organizing will present challenges and frustrations, but we know who holds our future. God has an eternal plan for each of us and nothing can hold us down when we know how to move forward. Jesus taught us to pray, “Give us our daily bread.” He resolves our needs according to His will and not our wants and our way. We only have to have what we need for the moment knowing that He always provides for our future and knows the desires of our heart.
God’s with us in every murky muddy mess. He moves us forward every time.
