Or: When life gives you lemons, make eternal lemonade
by Daniel Brewster
Near the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, when all the restrictions started coming into place, I felt like a lot of us felt: shell-shocked. I didn't realise it at the time, but that's what it was. Something new and strange was happening, something a little scary, too. This feeling lasted a couple of weeks, while all of us scrambled to figure out what was happening, why it was happening, and what would happen next.
After those two weeks, I realised I needed to figure out a way to deal with my emotions going forward. After all, this was not a familiar experience for any of us. It was new territory, and I needed a map to find my way.
As part of that, I thought I'd check out a few podcasts, to see what people were saying, whose job it is to sit around all day and think of valuable things to share. If anyone had something thoughtful to impart, some insight, it might be them.
I found a podcast that encourages people to repeat phrases to themselves, to help them focus on constructive thoughts and ignore all the destructive ones. The phrase for this particular podcast episode was: "I am confident, I am capable, and I am curious." The aim was to help people get through whatever distressing situation they may be in, with three self-esteem-boosting nuggets.
I tried saying it once, and I had to stop. It just didn't feel right. It felt like I was artificially praising myself.
"I'm not confident," I said to myself. "How can I say I'm confident when I'm not?" I didn't know what was going to happen the next day, the next week, the next year. "Who knows how long this pandemic will last, and how badly it will affect me and those I love?"
I also didn't feel capable. Not really. Sure, I could do some things, but I'd never dealt with a global upheaval before. What if I got sick? What if my family in Victoria got sick, and I couldn't be there to help them?
And 'curious'? The whole world is curious, about one thing: when will this end? What else is there to be curious about, when people are dying all over the world?
So my self-esteem wasn't exactly boosted, to say the least.
But then I had a thought. "What if I can repurpose this phrase, and reorient it to God?" Maybe then it'd resonate for me. So I gave it a try.
I said: "I am confident in God's love for me." That felt good. That felt comforting. That felt much more encouraging.
"I am capable of trusting in His love for me." Wow, that felt really good. I was onto something, and I found myself thinking aloud: "I'm confident in His love for me, because I know nothing will ever change that. And I'm capable of trusting in His love, because He's made me capable, by that very love I'm trusting."
Onto the last one.
"I am curious to see how His love will work in me today." Yes. I really was curious. How would He display His love for me that day, when all the world was in crisis? What wonders would He show me? What tender moments would He let me experience?
After that, whenever I felt worried or frightened, angry or sad, I repeated this phrase to myself:
"I am confident in God's love for me.
I am capable of trusting in his love for me.
I am curious to see how his love will work in me today."
It centred me on God, and things felt right again. Most importantly, my mind was taken away from fleeting worries to eternal joys.
Maybe you can do the same type of thing for yourself in the next couple weeks. When you are faced with something that seems to only have an Earthly purpose, and give it an eternal one. Reshape it into something that helps your heart and your mind travel back to God, away from all the worries. What might that be for you? It could be a song. A place. An object.
Let yourself be curious to see how God's love might work through you in new ways.
And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ -- to the glory and praise of God.
Philippians 1: 9-11 (NIV)
