The New Normal: Four Keys to Maintaining Hope in the Crisis

I woke up this morning not wanting to wake up. All the stress of the last few weeks had been getting to me and I just wanted to sleep away all of my struggles. I know it doesn’t work that way, but I felt like if I could just close my eyes, the world might get better overnight. It didn’t. The first bit of news I caught was that it was going to be another down day on Wall Street. Then, immediately following that, I heard that we had more confirmed cases of COVID-19 in our community. With that news comes new changes and reorganizing all of our previously reorganized plans, again. So, I got fed up. Ok, truth? I got mad. Why is all of this happening? How many more changes can we endure? What am I supposed to do now?

All of these emotions began to run over me. It’s been so chaotic that I haven’t even had time to reflect on the fact that the first anniversary of the death of my father (April 21^st) was happening in the middle of all of this.

Ok, so you just read my personal pity party. Sorry about that, but the truth is that we are all going through this together. We’ve all been scared and frustrated. It seems as if we are waking up each day to a “new normal”.

After I took a shower to clear my mind, I felt the Lord speak to me. As His gentle Spirit spoke peace to my soul, I believe that what He told me is not only for me, but for all who are struggling while facing these uncertain times. So, I sat down and wrote out the instructions that He impressed upon my heart to help navigate this “new normal” life. Maybe they will benefit you as well.

1. Be Intentional

I know that many people will be working from home or even not working during this time. The immediate temptation will be to sleep late and just lay around. “I’ve got nowhere to go and nothing to do.” Don’t let that thinking take over your mind. Get up, get dressed, and get ready for the day. Spend your early morning time with the Lord through prayer, Bible study, and worship. Mark out a specific time to exercise (you want to fit through the doorway when all of this passes). If we allow our lives to be corrupted by laziness, it will be harder to get back into the real world when things turn around.

2. Make the most of your time

You know that list of things your spouse has been begging you go finish? This is the perfect time to finish it! Tackle that over-packed closet, rearrange the garage, clean out the gutters, and stain the fence. Don’t just find busy work to do. Have you children help you and teach them valuable skills along the way. The temptation that they face during this is to be drawn into the digital world where they will conquer kingdoms and will ball games, but miss a tremendous amount of real life that is happening around them. Teach them to sweep, paint, organize, do wood-working, etc. They will thank you when they are older. If you are working from home, take time out to spend time with your family. Go for a walk, play catch, do a puzzle, or just color together. Don’t lose connection with the ones you love.

3. Cherish the moments

Several years ago, when we lived in Oklahoma, we lost power for several days. During the winters, we would often have power outages due to ice storms, but we had never lost power this long before. No power means no heat, no game systems, and no phones. To the kids, life seemed over at this point. We had to cook on the propane grill or try to warm something in the fireplace. At night, we all huddled in the dining room floor for warmth and read stories together by the fireplace. Despite all the difficulties that were involved, our children still say that it was their favorite memory from living there.

Your children may not understand all that is happening, but they do understand that mom and dad are home right now. Something like this may not ever happen again (prayerfully). Make it fun for them so that they don’t just remember the panic, but so that they will remember the moment.

4. Focus on what you can control

Things you can’t control: the rise and fall of the stock market, the spread of COVID-19, the people who have a disregard for the new six-foot distance protocol, things democrats say, things republicans say, and when all of this will come to an end.

Things you can control: your attitude, your relationship with Christ, your concern for other people, what you look like, what you smell life, and what you say/post on social media.

When we focus too much on the things that are out of our control it makes us bitter, depressed, and hopeless. This is where I found myself this morning. But when we focus on the things that we can control in our lives, we will find the grace and mercy of God walking with us in the midst of our struggles.

So, don’t try to escape the world, take the world by the horns and take each day head on. Follow the Apostle Paul’s instructions in Philippians 4:8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

Don’t let chaos around you keep you stuck in the covers.