Oh my, ALL this COVID-19 business, it certainly has messed with a lot of people’s lives (including mine!!) in a lot of ways that feel like they really create a lot of CRAZY.

And if I look back to March 15th, when all the closures and cancellations first came out, I truly was like, “Oh my goodness!! ALL our well-planned-out Spring Break Plans have gone, well, POP!!!”

And in one mere moment and minute as one decision for social shifts was made, there were no more trips, no more travel, no more work, no more school. And, well, just what are we (aka ME!!) going to DO???!!

Literally, this “DO-and-PRODUCTIVITY-Kinda-Girl” really got to wondering what would BE the answer to that???

And, well, rather than worry about it (which, if I’m honest, I sorta-kinda-did for a good while), I got to wondering. Instead of asking “WHY is this all happening to ME and MY world/pace/schedule?” (which was leading me to feel CHAOS and CRAZY and in CRISIS), I began to brew “WHAT GODLY GOOD could this be used for”???

So, I stopped, paused, PRAYED and LOOKED around — and staring right back at me were three (no, wait, make that four by the end of the day) faces:  my kids and, later, one-bald-headed-husband. And, I thought and heard in my heart, “Hmmm, now how many times have I said I wish there was more TIME to spend with all of them (especially that giant growing Grade 11 boy who is now officially taller than me by a few full inches)?” 

AHA! A lightbulb went off as I realized what an OPPORTUNITY to embrace a new kind of productivity; “RELATIONAL productivity”. (Yeah, I needed to come up with a term that made sense in my head — and hopefully yours too.) 🙂

Basically it is this: Since I can no longer invest in my NORMAL TO-DO List, how about I CHOOSE to invest in the things that don’t make the tick box or the checklist, but truly are the BEST investment in my day?? And can YOU guess what it is?? 🙂

Surprise, surprise, what I learnt is that it isn’t those “TO- DO” PROJECTS; it is the PEOPLE — and MY intentional relationship with them.

It’s so true, the “things” that bring the most and longest lasting VALUE to our lives are just that — “RELATIONAL” ones.

And the people that I had often found hardest to “catch” in the chaos of our “normal” daily school, sports and work schedule are those four faces: three with hair, one with none. (Sorry, Darin.) 🙂 And now that life isn’t moving so fast, they are all fast becoming my “Favorites.”

Hmmm… Maybe it took a CRISIS to teach Carol a TRUTH about relationships that GOD knew all along.

Oh, I get it. COVID-19 IS a NASTY thing, and I KNOW I cannot do one thing to CHANGE its reality here in Canada. BUT I can CHANGE my reality in Cranbrook by shifting my worldview on it from only seeing “OBSTACLES” (and, yes, I get it, there are plenty) to instead, CHOOSING to see unexpected “OPPORTUNITY” to grow in some ways that, well, maybe I hadn’t been attending to as well as before.

And by CHOOSING to DO that, somehow this scary virus season has turned my small-world schedule upside down and into an unplanned, but most excellent, “SOUL-EDUCATION” — and all with the people I am learning I really do love most. Pretty cool, hey? 🙂

Just trust GOD to continue to show HE knows what is best for us in the long run, even through the NASTY and UNKNOWN.

And so I wonder, what “GOOD” has GOD been teaching YOU THROUGH all this??? I double dare you to go looking. There IS GOOD in it IF we change our worldview from our natural one (full of only OBSTACLES) to HIS eternal one (full of OPPORTUNITIES)!!

What WORLDVIEW will YOU choose to embrace today??

Be Bold, Be Brave, Be a Beautiful Woman of GOD.

Carol 🙂