I - like everyone else - have been affected in a variety of ways due to the current global pandemic. I know it has been talked about here on more than one occasion, so I don’t want to talk too much about the pandemic itself. However, I do feel like it has given me an opportunity to change my perspective.
I had planned on homeschooling my daughter once we moved to Florida for her second-grade year. Now, though, the schools here in Oregon have been closed until almost the end of April and I’m finding myself thrust into homeschooling earlier than anticipated. It has given me an amazing opportunity to grow closer with my daughter, but it has also given me a great deal of anxiety over how to make sure she gets a proper education while still leaving me with the opportunity to get my own work done.
We are taking it day by day at this point, and it gives me an opportunity to figure out how she learns best and develop a course of action from there. We’ve got our books. We’ve got our computers. And we’ve got each other.
It reminds me of a river, to be honest. The river has a path that it flows through. This path is set in stone - sometimes literally - and the river does not have to think about where it is going next. But what happens when a boulder falls into the river? Or a beaver builds a dam? What happens then?
Well, the water adapts! The water finds a way around the boulder or dam - or pushes through it depending on the strength of the river. The boulder can remain there for years to come, but eventually, it will wear down into the smallest pebble.
We need to be like the river in times like this. A huge wrench has been thrown into our lives and we as humans are struggling to adapt. But we are all part of the river flowing together. If we all go with the flow, follow the guidelines we’ve been given, and not panic, the river will seamlessly continue flowing and wear the boulder down into a pebble.
Yes, it takes time. Yes, it takes courage. Yes, it takes sacrifice.
But that boulder can’t stay there forever.