What Have You Learned In 2020?

Can we travel through time for just a few minutes?  Let’s join “you” at the stroke of midnight on December 31, 2020. 

When the strains of “Auld Acquaintance” are played at that momentous instant, what will you be thinking? 

Will you be shouting, “Good riddance!” to a year of unmatched sickness, deep division, political factions and media influence?

Will you be anxiously awaiting 2021 and frantically hoping that it will be a time to regain all that was lost in 2020? 

Now … I know that you might be wondering why I am addressing New Year’s Eve and the year 2021 in a blog that is being posted at the end of August 2020 … but I am a great believer in preparing oneself for the future while being fully immersed in all that belongs to today.

I believe that the way we can prepare for a healthy future is to live fully in the reality of the present.

Each day only comes once in a lifetime.

Honestly … the exciting truth about the 365 days that comprise 2020 is this … God has chosen you and I to be alive during these challenging days!

How wonderful that He has trusted us to bring a seed of hope to a world that is ready to give up rather than to believe that life can be good again. 

How humbling to know that we, as His ambassadors, have been commissioned at this moment in history to foster reconciliation … to pray for the sick … to speak the truth in love … and to believe for the impossible.

It is no small assignment to be alive at this momentous time in the history of the world … and you and I got the job!

What have you learned during the first 8 months of 2020?

It’s a good question, isn’t it? It’s also a question that deserves a thoughtful and compelling answer from each one of us. 

Let me share with you some of the truths that I have learned this year …

I have learned that I am not in charge … and I am glad about that. 

I have learned to live on less … to simplify my expectations … and to enjoy daily pleasures.

I have learned to order groceries online … to thrive with non-stop Zoom meetings … and to turn off the network news. 

I have learned to trust an unknown future to a known God Who is always good and Who is eternally faithful.

I have learned that I miss my friends … that I miss giving hugs … and that wearing a mask isn’t so bad after all.

I have learned to pray more and to complain less.

I have learned that you can have joy in the middle of a pandemic … in an election year filled with vitriol … and during discouraging times in our nation’s history.

I have learned that the love and peace that is cultivated in my home is of much more consequence than what is going on at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue … on Wall Street … at the United Nations … or in the studios of ABC News.

I have learned that I love policeman and policewomen … and that I love people of all color.

I have learned … and I firmly believe … that you matter. 

You matter. 

No matter who you are … where you live … what the color of your skin is … how much money you make … or where you go to church … or who you will be voting for in this coming election … you matter! 

I have learned that I despise political rhetoric … but that I care deeply for our country.

I have once again discovered that an election may not improve our culture … that the media doesn’t always tell the truth … and that life is never easy.

It is obvious to me in the middle of this mess that what we still need is Jesus.

We need His power to persevere … and His love to permeate. 

We need to be kind like He is kind … and to serve one another without reserve.

The answer lies not in a man but in a Man. 

The cure for the human pain will never be found in a drug but will always be found in a Savior. 

There is an old Andre’ Crouch song that has been on replay in my heart since March … the lyrics go something like this:

“Jesus is the Answer for the world today … above Him there’s no other … Jesus is the Way!” 

Those lyrics were true in 1973 when Andre’ wrote them and they are still true today. They will continue to be true in 2021 and in every year that follows. 

Because you and I are alive in the never-to-be-forgotten year of 2020, we need to pray. 

We need to pray for miracles … for human kindness … for pervasive peace … and for revival to flood the shores of our wonderful land.

When the clock strikes midnight on December 31, 2020 … America will still just need Jesus.

What have you learned in 2020? I’d love to know.

Thanks for listening to my heart this week.  As you know by now, my heart is truly not a perfect heart but it is a heart that is filled to overflowing with gratitude for the life I have been given and for the people who walk with me.  And, it continues to be a heart that is relentlessly chasing after God and all that He is!