Milestones
Alyssa LaRocque
I’m sick of talking about COVID. Like the weather, it ‘s the go-to for small talk. Like a scandal, it’s unsavory news that everyone knows about and everyone has an opinion about. Like a rerun, we can spend a lot of time rehashing the same information.
I get it though. COVID has affected literally everything, so it’s hard NOT to bring it up! Not to mention the fact that we’ve just past the one-year anniversary of when Canada officially responded to the threat of the virus with shutdowns and regulations. Anniversaries are usually notable. With COVID, however, the only kind of anniversary party we seem to want is a pity party!
But what if we shifted our thinking? What if we celebrated? What if we looked for spiritual significance? What if we truly believed that God is having conversations bigger than COVID with each of us?
In other words: how about making a milestone out of this?
In a book called Family Discipleship [editor’s note: Kodiak wrote about it here!], Matt Chandler and Adam Griffin define a milestone as “marking and making occasions to celebrate and commemorate significant spiritual milestones of God’s work”. This can be done as communities, families or individuals. It just means taking the time to recognize that God has changed us, and identifying what and how He has done that.
It is clear that COVID has changed us. Instead of bemoaning the changes, wouldn’t it be striking if Christian individuals, families and communities demonstrated their trust in God by commemorating His work in their lives in the past year? Here a few ideas that come to mind for how this could be done:
Make a cake for someone that you’ve become more closely connected or acquainted in a new way because of COVID. Let them know that you thank God for them and for the opportunity to know them better.
Have a “Count our Blessings” dinner or party with the members of your household or with others through online ways. Use James 1:17 as a focus verse as you remember examples of His blessings together.
If you are in a position to do so, advocate for a time of reflection or sharing about how God’s goodness has been seen during COVID. This could happen during one of your church’s services or be incorporated into a small group or youth group time.
Make a piece of art, individually or as a group, that reminds you of a character trait of God that has been a source of comfort or strength for you this year.
Write a prayer or psalm that demonstrates how you’ve learned to trust God during COVID. It doesn’t have to just include the “happy thoughts”; prayers and psalms in the Bible are full of all ranges of feelings. This show us that we can and should bring everything we feel to God so that He can guide us to truth in the middle of whatever we’re feeling. Psalm 42 might be a good place to start if you need an example.
Create a playlist of God-focused songs that help you depend on God during COVID. It can be songs you listened to a lot, or ones whose lyrics are a good summary of what you’ve learned. You might want to include “Our God is in Control” by Steven Curtis Chapman.
The list could go on, but hopefully this gives you a flavour for how you can turn a COVID pity party into a meaningful way to praise God for the fact that He is always at work in our lives, no matter what the circumstances.