My last day at work as a teacher was March 13th. My last day of the 2020 academic year will be June 17th. Three whole months of a totally different lifestyle. Working, schooling, and churching at home is the new way. We’ve taken to only going out every few weeks for groceries–now extreme homebodies by necessity.

Here in New Jersey, the count as of today is over 160,000 cases of COVID-19, with close to 12,000 deaths. We’re second in the nation, and that’s not a good thing.

Our main forms of entertainment have been watching TV, reading, walking the neighborhood, and visiting local nature parks now that they’ve reopened. Life has become simpler and slower by necessity.

It’s going to be a long, slow road back to anything resembling normal.

Just because we are at home doesn’t mean we should wait around for “normal life” to resume. We’ve got to embrace this new way and learn to live well despite being limited in what we are able to do. It’s not going to be an overnight return to regular life.

At first, I was holding my breath–waiting to exhale. Nobody had a sense of how long we’d be sheltering at home. On the Friday I left school, my last words to my students were that we might possibly close for a couple of weeks.

Not even close.

After it became clear things were going to need more time, I began to realize my thinking had to change. I needed new strategies and ways of thinking about being at home indefinitely.

It’s an opportunity for revolution. This precious time is unlike anything I’ll ever have again until I retire. Sleeping, working, playing, and socializing are on new schedules and platforms. And that’s okay.

Taking time to do things we’ve neglected, like clean out the garage and read for pleasure, has enriched and improved life. Spending more time with our kids outdoors and at the family table for all our meals has provided vital times of laughter as well as serious discussion. It’s been an unexpected gift.

Seeing our children’s faith grow as they attend Zoom meetings with their peers at church has been gratifying. Worshipping God on Sundays in our pajamas and teaching our kids how to do household tasks has helped them mature in their responsibility and devotion to God.

We’ve talked about issues of race, poverty, and religion. Lessons on patience and dealing with disappointment have sprung from this time of cancellations and postponements. We use the Bible as our lens for how to address all of it. So good for all of us to learn these lessons together.

As awful as the situation is overall, there are shimmers of promise and blessings abounding. Choosing the right lens to see them is key. The revolution is here at home, and it will take place in comfy clothes.

“Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as reminders on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, speaking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates, so that as long as the heavens are above the earth, your days and those of your children may be multiplied in the land that the LORD swore to give your fathers.” (Deuteronomy 11:18-21, BSB)

For more on how Christians can harness growth opportunities during the pandemic, please read my article published on Medium for free: (click caption to read):

With Love and Gratitude,