Sacred Connections: Looking Forward
I don't think I realized how little I was “looking forward” until I finally gave myself permission to do just that. Many of us have been in such holding patterns – waiting for the pandemic to end, waiting for the vaccines to be approved, waiting to get vaccinated, waiting for more people to get vaccinated, waiting for the cases to go down. There’s a difference in waiting for something to happen, especially when we may feel we have very limited control, and the experience of looking forward to new possibilities.
Now, we hear many talking about planning vacations, finding ways to travel safely, but feeling excitement about the possibilities of a change of scenery, a return to favorite locations, seeing loved ones who haven’t been seen for many months or over a year. There’s an air of anticipation, and joy about tasting this freedom again. Yes, there will be masks and other safety precautions, but our hearts are lifted with these possibilities.
In Thursday’s on-line Washington Post, Michael Cavna featured a story entitled, “Students created faux New Yorker covers about the pandemic…” It was based on an assignment that Tomer Hanuka had given his illustration class students at the School of Visual Arts in New York. He had asked them to create art that reflected a movement past the pandemic, and the faux covers were so well received that they have gone viral.
What attracted me most to these compelling illustrations was the depth of perception and the very individualized expression of anticipated experience – from escaping the confines of virtual communications, to loved ones missing at a dinner table, to breathing the scent of flowers outside, to a cat watching their person go out the door. There are so many dimensions to the experiences and changes we have been through, and they continue through this next phase as well.
After the prolonged experience of such unusual times, we may find ourselves greatly looking forward to what once felt very routine. I met a friend for lunch outside at a restaurant this week, and we were both almost giddy at the experience. We’ve had a tradition of honoring each other’s birthdays in this way, and after that lunch we’re now only two birthdays and a year behind. Yes, there were other ways we could have kept this tradition going, but we kept opting to wait, never realizing how long a wait might last.
One thing I always look forward to each year has been the new leafing on the pansy redbud tree just outside my bedroom window. This is a low risk “looking forward” – unless the weather deals a terrible blow, this tree will leaf each year. And what is extraordinary about these leaves, is that the tiny new ones are red, and translucent against the morning sun. The only thing I can compare them to is stained glass. Each spring this tree becomes a beautiful symbol of the new life emerging from God’s creation. This new life emerges continuously and faithfully; we need only have the eyes to see and the patience to watch. As much as I treasure this tree in this season, most years I seldom have seen much of its beauty at its peak; I’m usually working away from home in our church building during the morning hours. This year, still working from home, I’ve been able to watch its beauty increase every day.
With nature in mind, and patience, many of us may find ourselves actually looking forward to the arrival of the cicadas this year. Maybe we’ve had more time for the experience of anticipation. Maybe it’s the novelty of a shift of focus from the pandemic, at least for the duration of the cicadas’ brief life span. Maybe it’s the seventeen years before emerging that puts our pandemic experience in a different light. Our engagement with our world has changed so much in this past year, we have the time and space to take more note of the natural world and be more present to what we see.
As we look forward to the days ahead, the days of more people being vaccinated, the days of hopefully breathing more easily, let us be mindful and patient with ourselves and others while we cautiously lean forward into these new possibilities. Let us not lose sight of God’s creation that has sustained us through these most difficult times and sustains us still. And, let us keep watch for the miracles of new life emerging every day.
