Have our nation’s recent crises led you to search for different ways or truer answers?

Devastation can knock the air out of us, and let’s face it: Devastation has surrounded us the past six months, including the astounding number of Covid-19 deaths in the US, 210,464 as of today. For every single person who has died, dozens if not hundreds of other people are in mourning, maybe you. Lives will never be the same. 

Those who survive Covid-19 can suffer long-term health problems and additional significant ripple effects, including financial strains. 

The Covid-19 pandemic caused the loss of employment for millions and millions of people—maybe you, maybe your kids. Way too many are now homeless. Others have lost their entire businesses and life savings—maybe you, maybe someone you know and love. 

In the past couple of days, we’ve learned that increasing and alarming numbers of people at top levels of our government are sick with Covid-19. And today we learned that numerous top-level Pentagon officials have quarantined after spending time with someone who tested positive for Covid. Talk about a national security emergency! 

Our nation’s students and their teachers—bless their hearts—struggle day by day, month by month, while doing education at home or online. And while I wholeheartedly understand the need to educate in that manner, and I support that decision, I also grieve for those children whose schools used to offer them food and shelter. And I wonder about scars that will be left on our youngsters who are missing the benefits of in-person classes and other group activities—sports, for example. How will their unusual schooling impact their education as a whole and their ability to do well in college? 

We hear reports of increased child abuse and spousal abuse among those confined to their homes during necessary shutdowns. We hear that divorces are on the rise. We hear of suicides. 

Other recent devastations include racial tensions, political tensions, and horrific hurricanes and tropical storms, one after another, hitting our Gulf Coast. 

And then there are the history-making wildfires in California and other wildfires in Oregon and Washington. The town that’s home to my aunt and uncle and numerous cousins burned to the ground in eastern Washington State. The ripple effect is staggering. 

You’ve experienced heartbreak and tragedy. You know it only too well. Sometimes we cause our own disasters, but other times we’re innocent victims of someone else’s choices and actions. Such devastations can bring us to our knees. 

And there, within that place of crisis, we can—if we will—discover that during our most painful times, God hands us an opportunity: a chance to learn our most important lessons. 

Sorrows can wrench us out of places we never should have wandered: Anguish can break down our stubbornness and make us willing, finally, to embrace a holy discontent with things that are not right in our lives. 

M. Scott Peck worded it this way: 

“. . . Our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers.” 

This week, look at the really tough things you’ve recently experienced, 

and consider the suffering of those around you. 

Stand back, examine, ponder, question, pray. 

Have these tragic events led you to recognize, 

and even welcome, 

a holy discontent over things that are not right in your life? 

If so, write about that. 

Are recent devastations propelling you out of your ruts? 

Have they led you to search for different ways or truer answers? 

If so, write about that. 

Other people need to know your story— 

they want learn from you how to handle their own devastations.