One year ago, on March 11th, 2020, the COVID 19 pandemic was announced in the United States. How can I be so sure of the date? It is the date of my birthday. In some ways, it’s hard to believe it’s been a year. In other ways, that date was a lifetime ago.
What have you learned that can help move you forward? Self-reflecting can be helpful as things begin to change yet again.
Here are three self-reflection questions to contemplate your learnings this last year and a question to help you figure out when to accomplish recording those learnings. What do you want to take with you as you move forward with intention?
What were some of your most challenging learning moments of this past year?
This last year has been like a Ph.D. on living life, hasn’t it? So many challenging learning moments packed into one year. From learning about health and viruses to racial inequalities to how we view ourselves politically and even spiritually, we have covered quite a learning curriculum. We even included how to navigate family and friend relationships and sadly how to grieve.
One arena for me to learning was being home 24/7 and figuring out how to have distant relationships with my family and friends. Zoom family calls and a private Facebook group and ways to navigate outside gatherings became a way of life. I searched for rituals and routines that could keep a family together, including a marriage. Those were challenging learning moments for me, yet positive outcomes prevailed.
As you reflect, what were some of your challenging learning moments?
What did you do this year that you want to bring forward?
Our brains are fickle. We think we’ll always remember important scenes in our lives. However, without some intention, that won’t be necessarily true. God often told the Israelites to take stones and set them up as remembrances of His deliverance, such as in Joshua 4:5-7 NKJV, crossing the Jordan River,
“that this may be a sign among you when your children ask in time to come, saying, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’ “
What stones of remembrance do you want to make for this year? What have you done that you intentionally want to bring forward?
For me, one intention I want to bring forward includes carving out specific times with all my family members. I now have weekly times with the older three that are only for them. Then we have weekly zoom family meetings to enjoy each other. My hope is that continues even after we can meet in person during the weeks we don’t see each other.
My stones of remembrance will be those family meetings.
What were some encouraging discoveries you’ve made about your walk with God?
In all the uproar of this year, how have you waited, trusted, and turned to God and your faith for support? I know God and I have had many more conversations about the world, my role in it, and where I am to join Him. I have found Him to be a good conversant when I take the time to be still. It has taken a year to get me to let go of striving. It still is a hard habit to break.
I have discovered He truly wants to have conversations in prayer when I bring everything to Him, my hurts, my faults, my hopes. Surprisingly, He even wants me to bring my writing to Him, too. We ended up writing a book together during the pandemic, Want to Hear God, Connect with Him in Prayer. It comes out next month and I’m excited to share it with you.
What discoveries have you made?
When will you take time to self-reflect?
Time has a way of continuing to move forward, which, of course, we are now to have hope in this forward movement. Before the lessons of this last year grow dim, I hope you’ll take time to make a list, write yourself a letter, make a recording or video, choose a stone of remembrance or someway to intentionally remember the lessons of this last year.
I look forward to hearing your stories of reflection and intention.
Grace and peace to you, my friends,
Nancy
As a spiritual director, I walk with people who want to hear and see God more clearly in their lives. If this post is helpful to you, could you share it with others? Or if there is a way that I can be praying specifically for you, would you reply to this post? I want to be of service to you in your life and the lives of others. I look forward to walking with you in the world “for such a time as this.”
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