Calamity: A disastrous event marked by great loss and lasting distress and suffering
[Merriam-Webster]
It hit me like a sudden cold shower of spring thunderstorm rain. Day after day, my email program with its quiet reminder, “You Have Nothing Scheduled in the Next 7 Days.”
In any given week my calendar is sprinkled with appointments for spiritual direction and writing. There’s also the usual mix that may include a haircut, visit to the dental hygienist, lunch date with a friend, or a family get together.
These days, however, empty blocks, row after row of white calendar space. Pondering all that emptiness, something caught my attention—the white spaces in my calendar used to list meetings or appointments that involved physical presence with other people.
Physical presence with other human beings. A thing of the past? Yes. And no.
The first few weeks of stay-at-home life due to COVID-19 were surreal. Even for this introvert. And while it still feels that way some days, one thing is for certain—how do we move from life as we knew it in order to build a new [maybe even better] life than we lived before?
What if, at least a partial response, is to allow the calamity to serve as the catalyst to create?
Create you say?
Yes.
Create: To bring into existence; to invest with a new form;
to produce through imaginative skill
[Merriam-Webster]
Create. Why? What? How?
Why create?
Before the pandemic most of us filled our schedules with little thought to whether or not we were being the person God created us to be. What if this is the perfect time to discover the Divine purpose for your life—the purpose only you can fulfill? If you haven’t already, begin by using the white space in your day to listening creatively to the desires and dreams you carry that may have been overlooked in life BP—before pandemic. What makes your heart sing IF you are patient and give yourself time to discover what was buried beneath the busyness?
Create what?
From the concrete—meals for those in need, face masks, phone calls, letters—to the imaginative—a poem, a painting, a prayer—there’s no limit to what you and I can create. Maybe you don’t believe you can be creative. Now might be the time to let go of any preconceived notions about what it means to create and open ourselves to the unique ways we can brighten the day and be a blessing to one another. Which also means letting go of the idea “create what” has to result in huge project or cost a lot of money.
Create how?
Take it one step at a time. Keep it simple. Listen to those heart-notes. What are they telling you? Maybe that means going for a walk, talking with a friend, listening to music, relaxing in nature. It’s difficult to create when our thoughts and emotions are a jumble. To bring into existence; to invest with a new form happens when we are peaceful, engage in self-care, and have a willingness to work with the greatest creator of all, the Divine catalyst.
Catalyst: An agent that provokes or speeds significant change or action
Most of us would not have foreseen a pandemic as the agent to provoke or speed us into significant change or action. Without a doubt, some of that change has been unwanted and uninvited, at least in the sobering reality of what continues to unfold. Yet if we take a moment to consider the bigger picture, much of what we are experiencing in and around us is good, positive, and hopeful. Total strangers reach out to one another; volunteers step to the frontlines to help those in need; family members discover new ways to connect.
There’s no time limit on being creative, especially when it comes to love and service.
The only thing that will stand in our way to a more caring and compassionate tomorrow will be if we allow the busyness and often frenetic pace of the old way to keep us from listening to the still small voice of the One who created us in the first place.
So, what are you going to create today?
