365 Days of Thankfulness: Amidst Pandemic

As I am ushering the new year in, I can’t help but look back to when everyone was envisioning the 2020 ahead. My Facebook timeline then was full of lines like these:

• Bring it on 2020, I am ready for you
• The best is yet to come
• Ring out the old, ring in the new, Ring, happy bells, across the snow: The year is going, let him go; Ring out the false, ring in the true

All of us have sent everyone our well wishes too.

But no one, nothing had prepared us to what 2020 had brought us. A coronavirus that was identified in China late of 2019 became the pandemic that hit the globe in 2020. Everyone’s affected, no ones exempted. Rich dying regardless of the money or power they have. Poor people robbed of hope as they lost jobs. It’s been a rough year for everybody.

2020 is definitely not the best year ever. And the coming new year brings new hope but we all know that this pandemic will not magically disappear in January 1st. As we fight this coronavirus, I hope for a slow shift to go back to the old normal. 

However, amidst the trouble, there are benefits. And the top three things this pandemic has brought the world that I am grateful about are these:

The Earth breathes and recuperates

Industrialized world are on a temporary stop giving Earth a time to breath and for us a chance to see how the Earth would be without the round the clock harmful human activities. The sky is clearer to some highly industrialized  part of the world. CO2 emissions reduced and so thus air pollution dramatically declines. Less CO2 going back to the oceans, more of oceans coming to life - clearer ocean water, fishes visibly seen, dolphins dancing. We can see evidence of Mother Nature’s resilience. When we give nature a rest, nature comes back.

The gift of time

Pre-pandemic, everyone’s saying they don’t have enough time. Then we suddenly have all the time. The normal daily activities we used to have were put into a pause. No one’s family life is the same. We tend to do more things as family now. We picked up a hobby we so wanted to do before. We started learning new things, baking is one for me. Most importantly,  we have plenty of time to reflect, to kneel and talk to Him.

For those who have lost their jobs or their business going down, I know that time is not something they would appreciate right now. Because although everyone has suddenly have all the time in the world to enjoy things, some people are at their busiest competing against time. Freelancers and businesses (big or small) need to re-plan in just few days to quickly adapt to the new norm. But on the flip side, they can ride on with the pressure of time to re-strategize with the worst scenario, putting their resiliency to test, making them stronger in the long run. Or the fate decides, use now to re-evaluate and change course. Whatever this time has brought - a change of process, opportunity to some, an enjoyment to many, a peace of mind to a troubled one, a break to a weary fellow, a positive pressure to someone who’s afraid to take it to the next level, quality time to families, reflection to all of us - it is a gift in a different way than others to each one of us.

Kindness and hope over fear

The kindness of humanity evidently shown on how our front-liners have risked their lives and put in their hours to look for cure, take care of the sick people and save lives while the rest of the world did their share to stop the spread. Companies ordering employees to stay home and do work from home, churches going online and making social media a platform to initiate and send prayers, people joining hands to send help thru donation drives. All of these random little act of kindness spark joy and hope in everyone of us. 

Everything serves a purpose. God is in control. I am not saying that God willed the pandemic to happen, this is not His will and not His doing. But when evil strikes, He is always there to make us a way out. In this pandemic times, His will for us is to emerge from this victoriously. I know that when some are losing their jobs and dying because of the coronavirus, we cannot comprehend how everyone is a winner. But in a bigger picture beyond what we can imagine, ‘we’ will emerge a winner. There are sacrifices to every battle and this pandemic is a battle we are fighting for a year now. But us fighting alongside God, collectively and united - there’s absolutely nothing we cannot overcome. This is a hope I am bringing in with me as I face another year of who knows what. So I will say bring it on 2021, I am not totally ready for you but my God is.