Right before COVID-19 I was searching for a word/theme to guide my season. I felt a bit lost. I had begun asking “what am I doing with my life?” Not that I was necessarily doing anything wrong, I just felt like I’d gotten wrapped up in living life, not paying attention to what I was doing. Like when you drive home and have no memory of how you got there but all the sudden you’re home. Work, food, kids, friends, church, activities, events… all the areas were good but I was almost on auto pilot. As I began to re-evaluate what I did with my time, money, energy, I gravitated towards the word “re-orient.”
“Re-Orient.” It was a call to slow down and to reorient towards God. Reconnect to Him and myself with intention. It was ironic (or not) how the following weeks the entire country would shut down. It was a huge gift in begin able to have the time and space to reorient. I have felt closer to myself, God, my husband and kiddos than I have in years.
Now, almost two months into the quarantine with sometime of reentry on the horizon, my new guiding word is “Re-Imagine.” When the country does re-open what will that look like? I don’t want to get swept back up into the busyness! I want to reimagine what our life could look like. What parts of quarantine life have been life-giving? How to I weave those into normal life? What parts of my “old” life were life-sucking? Is there a way to re-imagine those areas?
Even in quarantine life the last week or so I’ve been working with the theme Re-Imagine. I’ve currently been trying to Re-Imagine our evening routine. The dinner-bath-books-bed routine seems often like something to get through. The process leaves me typically tired and frustrated. How could that time be reimagined? Why couldn’t it be the best part of my day? What would that even look like? I have honestly no idea. It is my latest place to connect with God to work together to reimagine that time. If He created the entire universe, He can surely help me create a bedtime routine that isn’t life sucking.
My Re-Imagining is ranging from bedtime routines, to my work, our social calendar, to our weekly rhythms/routines. How do I want to spend my time, money and energy? What could a life both re-oriented and re-imagined look like?
What about you?
What have you enjoyed about the rhythm of quarantine life?
How might you be able to incorporate those into your non-quarantined life?
Are there areas of your life would you like to change?
What would it mean to Re-Imagine those areas?
-Annika Cook