Where will we be when all this is over?

I have been thinking a lot over the past fews days about where we will be when all of this is over. I have seen profound things happening in the lives of families in the past fews weeks. They are connecting in ways they have not in a long time. They are coming up with creative ideas for how to make the most of their time together. The one thing they do not seem to be missing in their busy lives. I have not heard one person say they want to be busy again. I know several people who are ready to interact with other humans. I am at the top of that list, but they are not wanting to be more busy. Every organization, church, and company is trying to think of ways to help families while they are at home. I do not recall a time where more people have been talking about the home. About how to help parents in the home, about how to connect better with your children while you are at home. So when all of this is over and things resume, where will we be? Will we go back to our busy schedules that keep us mainly out of the home? Will we continue to add to the activities that our children need to participate in that keep us from being together as a family? What will we learn from the season of slow?

I want to think that we will walk away from this differently. Focusing on what matters most. Focusing on the home more. I realize that schedules will need to go back to some sort of structure, believe me my house is desperate for structure. Maybe our schedules should be less full so that we have more time to sit down at the table as a family for a meal. Maybe we will filter our commitments through a different lens now. Maybe we will do one thing at a time rather than a million. Maybe we will find satisfaction in the little things with our children, and not all the activities we think they need to be involved in to make their childhood complete. I think through all of this we have seen that children need us. They need us disconnected from the outside world, not necessarily for two weeks at a time, and not necessarily surrounding a worldwide pandemic. But they need us. Not all the frills, and activities, they need solid connections with the adults in their home. With a little fun, outside play, movie nights, and fort building reminding us that life is short so we need to spend it together. 

There are things that happen to a generation that defines them. Something they talk about for years to come. When we walk away from this, will we walk away differently? Will we have different values, and have thought about what is truly important. Or will we move past this as though we learned nothing new, not changing us at all. My prayer is that this changes us. That we walk away different than we were before. For the sake of our children and the sake of our families. Because I promise when we walk away from all of this our children will not remember that they missed their activities, they will remember the weeks of uninterrupted and undivided attention they received from their parents.