We are in the midst of it. Maybe it has just begun. If you’re reading this in 2020, I’m sure you know I’m referring to the Coronavirus. Everyone is in quarantine. Everything is canceled. That still seems like it should be an exaggeration. I wish it was.
I can count on my fingers the number of times I’ve got in my car and drove somewhere in the last six weeks. I can tell you the exact dates I’ve gone to the grocery store and to the pharmacy drive-thru to pick up my prescription because those are the only places I’ve ventured to.
It is weird. So so weird.
At the beginning of March, life was seemingly normal. Now it feels like everything has fallen apart. Fear, panic, confusion, anger, greed, selfishness, and devastation are swarming this country and the rest of the world. Let’s be real, these things didn’t just pop up when the reality of the virus hit. In times of crisis, emotions are amplified. Just one glance at the media brings a heavy sense of hopelessness.
In times of crisis, emotions are amplified.
But what if there actually is hope? What if all of this is falling apart for a reason? What if this hysteria is breaking down old ways of being in the world and making room for something new to shine through? What if the world actually starts to come together once again in harmony? What if we take precautions for the threat of physical death this virus has, but welcome the death that seems to be sweeping through our culture? What if this is an invitation for us to die to old thought processes, old habits, jobs, and activities that no longer serve us, but we’ve been clinging to? What if this is the universe grabbing us by the shoulders, sitting us down, and insisting we change? What if this is an intervention by the most high? A global timeout.
It's odd, isn’t it, that this began in the midst of the Lenten season? The season of death and rebirth?
Just before all of this took hold, I decided my word for the next few months would be BLOOM. I was starting to see this word everywhere, given that spring was on its way, but it called out to me, in particular, this season. It acted as a burst of encouragement for me to continue pushing toward my goals that were feeling more and more urgent to pursue. Boy oh boy, has it taken on such a deeper meaning so quickly!
You are open now, more sensitive than you've been before. Change is coming. It's here. You can feel it in the air. You can feel it in yourself.
Melody Beattie – Journey to the Heart
Bloom. Each spring, plants go through a process of rebirth and produce beautiful blooms. They had to die to their old leaves and flowers in the fall and winter. They had to shed all that no longer serves them so they can be prepared to reinvent themselves and bloom once again during the next spring season.
The universe is breaking down our self-serving ways and rearranging our hearts to bring us together as one. It is preparing us for our next adventure.
I am accepting this forced pause, however odd and scary it may seem, and using it as an invitation to bloom. I have peace in the promise of rebirth.