No more waiting

We waited for election results - worried about the outcome.

We waited for winter - worried about another wave of Covid.

We waited for a vaccine - worried about the speed of its production and the slowness of its distribution.

Things came to pass. Things came. Things passed.

The election has been decided - in most people's minds anyway.

Winter has passed - for those of us in the northern hemisphere.

The vaccine has arrived - and is being distributed... but not to everyone, everywhere. 

No more waiting.

If Covid has taught me anything, it is that I cannot wait to tell loved ones that I love them.

I cannot wait to visit the sick friend, the lonely friend, the tired friend.

Sickness, loneliness, and tiredness can take a life. 

Far too quickly. 

No more waiting. 

Say the thing - the true thing, the scary thing, the life-affirming thing.

Katie Cannon said that "even when they call your truth a lie," even when your voice cracks, tell your story, tell the truth anyway. 

So here's the truth: when Covid started, I had one goal - to survive.

And I survived. 

It was not easy. I cried. I complained. I worried. I lapsed into periods of depression and despair.
But I made it.

We survived as a family of four.

It was not easy. We bickered and angered each other. We annoyed and disturbed each other.
But we made it.

My son got Covid, but he made it. 

I lost a beloved cousin to this wretched disease. I begged God to save his life, but death came anyway. Millions of people begged for mercy on behalf of their loved ones, but death came anyway. 
Many millions are still begging for mercy, but death still comes anyway. 

No more waiting. 

It's time to reclaim my hope, my faith, and my joy. Even now.

It's time to see the beautiful faces of my loved ones again. 

To hug them without fear. 

To laugh and cry together.

To eat, drink, and be merry together.

To hear their stories.

To tell them mine.

To dance, to step, to lean into all that is to come. 

There's no going back to the old way of doing anything. 

I must go forward. Into newness of life. 

No more waiting. 

What have you survived?

What are you no longer waiting for?