2020 was quite the year for all of us. The word “unprecedented” seemed to describe the entire twelve months in a nutshell. 

For some, it meant doing church on Facebook Live, for others it included getting married on Zoom. Some folks suffered great loss being laid off from their jobs, or endured the death of a loved one from Covid-19, or both.

When we rang in 2021, there seemed to be a glimmer of hope that 2020 was over and that everything would change as soon as the clock struck midnight. 

Even as we approach what we envisioned would be a fresh start, sickness still abounds, Covid restrictions are still in effect, and thoughts of getting a new vaccine can leave us feeling at a loss.

However, we must not neglect to look back on what God taught us through everything we have experienced in the last fifteen or so months. 

With the next few questions, I encourage you to reflect on how Covid has affected you. 

Maybe you used the time to grow near to the Lord in the middle of such uncertainty or maybe you’ve given way to your own strength and wisdom to try to control every part of your pandemic life. My prayerful hope is that you use these questions to think about how you have responded to Covid in light of the gospel.

What did you do with your worship?

When our church closed its doors due to the shut down all of us had to restructure the way we worshipped. For years we were used to going into a building without masks and without questioning how we should greet each other. Then when Covid hit, what was once a normal Sunday worship service had to be set up online or in the church parking lot leaving us with an awkward feeling about how we did church. Whether you're back to in person worship or remote, how is God stirring your heart for your church? 

What did you do with extended free time?

Did you, like me, google everything you could about every single major event that happened last year?

Did you also turn to google to make sense of the election, the riots, Covid and it’s different strains?

I was determined to make sense of the world around me, my knowledge was my safety blanket. I thought that if I knew how Covid spread or where each candidate stood on every major stance I would make the right choices, I would avoid getting sick or voting for the wrong person.

Did you spend time in the word and prayer? Did you seek God in new ways? 

Truth be told, I wish I would have brought my unrest and desire for every piece of knowledge to the Lord. Thankfully, it’s not too late to start doing that now. 

The pandemic has revealed parts of my heart to me that I am less than proud of. And while you may be thinking that trying to learn or grow in a season where we are all trying to survive is ambitious, remember that our heavenly goals don’t stop when life is upended. 

God is still God regardless of our circumstances and our calling as his children remains the same.

So whether 2020 brought you illness, afflictions, sin, how have you grown in your walk with Christ from all of it? In short, what has God revealed to you through the ups and downs of this past year and a half? How has He been magnified in your life?

I can’t help but think of John Piper’s book, “Don’t Waste Your Life.”

Don’t waste the pandemic and rest of 2021. We all fall short daily and maybe we didn’t honor God with the ways we responded to the chaos around us. Thankfully, we serve a gracious God who allows us to repent, with the help of the Holy Spirit we can seek to grow and know God deeply through every circumstance.

Meagan Gutierrez is a kindergarten teacher in New York City. She is married to her best friend and together they love to travel and eat good food. In her spare time, Meagan loves to serve others and enjoys reading!