Not a Waste
With the world on pause…
we’re witnessing the God who is not
I came across a post about funny holiday cards this season. Breaking slightly from tradition, many felt an obligation to acknowledge this year as one like we’ve never experienced. Normally, I’m not a Christmas card sender (one less thing to stress about, among other reasons), but I decided to make a go at it:
It’s an age-old pearl of wisdom that intentionally reflecting on the past helps inform our future.
2020 was hard, but we’re not letting it go to waste
In a year that a lot was taken away from all of us physically, my hope comes from the belief that much was accomplished spiritually. Why? Because we serve a God who doesn’t let things go to waste. He brings beauty from ashes, hope from despair, and life from death.
“The question is not how to avoid loss and make it not happen, but how to choose it as a passage, as an exodus to greater life and freedom.” – Henri Nouwen
Though 2020 was a year where we held a lot of things in tension, it was also a passage to greater spiritual transformation, mission, and ministry. Here are some of the things we hold gratefully:
-Just before the US went on lockdown, on March 1, 2020, Jenna felt the call to get baptized in the presence of family and friends, which was obviously celebrated afterward with Taco Bell.
-Just after the world went on lockdown, on April 18, 2020, Jeness also said yes to the spiritual nudge she had been pondering for a bit and got baptized…in the bathtub! Prompted by a silly impromptu video made by our worship leader and then the yes of this little 5-year-old’s faith, a ripple effect began. In the days following, some 37 people in our faith community took the same next step of faith in their homes!
-Ministry turned to Zoom as Jenna led a small group of young women through a spiritual huddle and co-led a young adult outpost, bringing a faith community to displaced college students (by displaced, I mean sent from the dorms back to their homes, trading peers for parents and siblings!)
-Justin’s ongoing student ministry at Mercy Road Church Northwest went virtual. Meanwhile, they hired a full-time staff to continue building on the foundation Justin faithfully served to establish for middle and high school students.
-Justin was thankful to be able to relocate his work to the basement. One of his clients at Leaf Software Solutions is one of the largest senior housing communities in the state where he was charged with designing a system for tracking the staff’s routine Covid testing schedule. He will now use the same technology to help track the residential staff’s vaccine schedule, enabling them to safely bring more people the care they need.
-In the fall, all three kids returned to full-time school in the only year they will ever all three be together in the same building! The fact that this is a rare blessing is not lost on me. They continued to attend all semester with relatively few hiccups. (We were quarantined most of December.)
-Both Justin and Brandon (Natalie’s husband) recovered from Covid. Thankfully, it did not spread to anyone else in our families.
-After realizing this spring that living FULL-time in too close of quarters with your spouse wasn’t as romantic as it sounds, Justin and I started implementing weekly dates. The kids are now old enough to stay home for short spurts! We went on walks, played frisbee, and sat outside on bar and restaurant patios. For two people who were overdue on haircuts, dentist appointments, and had spent too much time in our pajamas, that hour once a week made a world of difference in our relationship!
-Jenna made writing progress and joined a community of writers called Hope*Writers. She also launched her editing business. (If you need anything edited–resumes, applications, cover letters, manuscripts, etc., let me know!)
-The kids started doing their own laundry. (I mean, really, a huge mom-win.)
-We finally got into a rhythm to practice a day of rest each week.
-We kept in touch with many sides of the family through Marco Polo, Facebook Messenger, FaceTime, and Zoom.
-Neighbors became friends. We are grateful to have grown closer to those who live in our closest proximity.
-This fall, God prompted Jenna to invite women in the neighborhood into deeper community together, growing in friendship and leaning into the opportunity to learn and grow in faith, welcoming each person’s starting point.
-Our previously homeless friend, Don, turned a sandwich and a church flier into a path to new life! Read about it HERE.
-Bob Gumba, the long-haired guinea pig, joined our family in May and is making quite a name for himself. He serves as a faithful friend for Nessi since quarantine made it difficult to have friends her own age over to play.
-Selah is 3/4 of her way through reading The Action Bible. Jayden finished it a while back and continues to come back to it. Both Jayden and Selah read their way through quarantine.
-Justin has been consistently running and is pleased to announce he has added the new Apple Fitness plan to his workout regimen, getting the whole family involved.
-After most of the kids’ extracurricular activities were canceled in the spring and early summer, they have since been able to resume most activities with some minor adjustments and safety precautions.
And, yes, there was still much to wrestle with:
dwindling personal space and an overabundance of screen time
decreased peace of mind and increased frustrations
loss of control over our circumstances and increased awareness of our imperfections
the simultaneous SLOWing down alongside the newfound rush of daily homeschooling activities
the staying in instead of going out
the daydreaming about taking vacations/longing for old indulgences while intentionally drawing near to God and growing in hearing Him
the call to personally examine, learn, and unlearn racially divisive patterns in our own lives, while also experiencing outrage at the way things are around us
the growing uncertainties and situations that could cause fear while leaning into our reliance on Him as our only constant
the postponing of planning our annual trip to CA, while spending more time at home playing games, reading, crafting, baking (*ask Selah about that, not me*), and going on adventurous walks and drives in rural Indiana. **Jayden would like to include that he has traveled to Fortnite Island on a nearly daily basis.
mourning the physical separation from our family and friends, while relishing the newfound creative ways to connect, celebrate, and cherish.
Finally, we lament the effects of COVID-19 and the aftermath that will last for years to come. Simultaneously, we revel in the image-bearing nature of humanity at every hint of the world coming together and corralling camaraderie in beautiful, creative, and sometimes humorous ways. “So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them,” (Genesis 1:27) Though our collective human fallenness was often evident, so was humanity’s redeemable core to bear His image in their humor, creativity, innovation, determination, and the unrelenting, un-giving-up pursuit of community and relationship.
Like you, we felt so many of the tensions. In closing, here are a couple of the things we are choosing to remember:
Life is often about learning to live well in the tension.
I’m a work in progress.
The breaking of one rhythm makes way for a new rhythm.
When we feel we are at the end of our rope, we are at the beginning of Him.
2 Corinthians 4:18:
“So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
Want to find out if “2020 Sucks” in the kingdom of heaven? plus:
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