From: Kevin Jackson
Greenwood
A few months ago, COVID-19 reminded us that we were not gods controlling our little universes. We lost toilet paper and beef. We were unable to go wherever, whenever. We had no idea what was coming next. Any beliefs we had of our own omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience were wiped away. The truth is, of course, that we never had any of those at all.
The world we controlled was revealed to be a false world, with bigger forces at work than we were able to manipulate.
One of the most significant losses was demand.
Demand is powerful. It is the drive to do more, spend more, take more, go more. Like a virus, it spreads quickly and without warning. Yet our lives are built on its foundation. Many of us knew that demand wasn’t healthy for our families. But demand is relentless, ruthless, and even addictive.
The antidote? COVID-19. Demand withered overnight. Lives built around a schedule no longer existed. Daily routine was lost. Sports teams, clubs, events, activities, and vacations were gone.
Instead, we had the schedule of a kid on summer break. We had time to do so many things. What did you do more of? Did you learn something new? Teach something new? Pick up a new hobby? Revisit an old one? Read more? Create more? Rest more? Did you have more time to spend with your family? Did family dinners come back to life? Did you appreciate experiences that you ignored before?
Put aside the physical and economic casualties that no one would wish on anyone; how did you feel about that? Did you discover that you actually liked a lot of things about this new life? Did you miss demand?
Guess what?
We don’t have to go back.
Demand makes time and schedules the bosses of our lives. Rest assured, demand will want us back in the fold as the quarantine ends. Have you already sensed it hovering at the door?
I don’t want the life that demand wants for me. I want the life that God wants for me. I want to value what He values. I want to be, as is said of King David in the Old Testament, a “man after God’s own heart.”
Am I pursuing the right things? Are the wrong things becoming priorities?
The quarantine has given many of us the opportunity that we prayed for but didn’t dare to make happen ourselves: we got to reset our pace.
Did you love the family dinners? You can have them.
Did you love more time at home? You can have it.
Did you deepen your relationships, either because you lost them or because you got more of them? You can keep them.
You’ve been given a reset, an It’s a Wonderful Life tour of a world without demand, without a maxed-out lifestyle, without hurry, without exhaustion. A life with margin. A life of simplicity.
What will you do with it? It’s up to you.
