Since the nationwide lockdown began in March this year, my thoughts and accompanying emotions have swung the pendulum from “everything is going to be okay” to “help! My future has been hijacked”. Perhaps you can relate?
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For the world has changed. Our own individual worlds have changed. The way we work, the way we learn, the way we relate to others and even the way we spend money. Our plans. Our priorities. All changed.
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Whoever we are, no matter our race or cultural background, no matter what we do for a living or how comfortable our lives. We have all had to face the consequences – health or otherwise – of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Some of these changes are likely only temporary having been necessitated by a time of sudden crisis. Other changes will remain a part of the landscape of our everyday lives, at least in the medium to longer term. Some by choice or habit, others by law.
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Then there are those changes that have taken place within us, whether as a result of or in spite of what is taking place in the world around us.
When the hard lockdown began, the novelty of staying at home without the need to get up and get out of the house in a hurry was, for me at least, pure relief. Our family was safe and we had more time to spend together. Although our freedoms were curtailed and our choices limited, our new way of life reminded us of what was important. And for that I am thankful.
But a few weeks into our “new normal”, as the novelty wore off and news of the impact that the virus was having around the world dominated our local media more and more, I began to feel as if life was now happening to me rather than the other way around. I felt that I no longer had any control over my life and nothing was certain. There were simply no guarantees. Not for my health. Not for my income. Not for me or my family.
According to well-known coach and speaker, Anthony Robbins, human beings are motivated or can be motivated by the desire to fulfil certain core human needs, which needs form the basis of every choice we make. One of these needs is the need for certainty, where certainty encompasses safety, stability, security, comfort, order, predictability, control and consistency.
This would explain my sudden lack of motivation and the onset of fatigue. Interestingly, many of those I spoke to were experiencing the same thing.
The truth is, however, that even pre-Covid-19, nothing was certain and there were never any guarantees. Outside of God, that is.
Billy Graham once said: “Our world today so desperately hungers for hope, yet uncounted people have almost given up. There are despair and hopelessness on every hand. Let us be faithful in proclaiming the hope that is in Jesus”.
This statement is as true today as the day he made it and reminds me of the Scripture in Hebrews 6:19 (AMPC), which reads: “Now we have this hope as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul…”
This much is certain: just as an anchor secures a ship, Jesus secures our soul. When our hope is in Him, we can be secure and confident – no matter the circumstances of our lives.
