Daily Devotion

A favorite quote of mine from the novel “Animal Dreams” by Barbara Kingsolver is “What keeps you going isn't some fine destination but just the road you're on, and the fact that you know how to drive.” I have felt this way many times, many days in a row as the new realities that the COVID pandemic brought with it became normalized for me and my family. 

My family lives in a school district where public education has been delivered virtually more than in-person this year. By virtue of being blessed with flexibility as a staff member at GSLC, I have been the parent to primarily be at home with our three kids (ages 11, 8, and 4) during COVID, learning to set multiple alarms in my cell phone so that we don’t miss a Google Meet lesson with a teacher, planning breakfast and lunch meals around independent work times, and double-checking folders for completed work before heading to school each Friday for a work packet exchange. I am on this new road of distance learning headed towards a blended-learning model and I have learned how to drive it. 

And it has felt like a long road so far this school year. With lots of detours along the way, but what keeps me going is hope. Paul writes in Romans 15:13, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”

I hope that our kids will remember all this extra time that we got to spend together fondly. I hope that our kids are learning how to navigate disappointments in life. I hope that our kids become more appreciative of the simple things in life that bring them joy. 

I am not sure where or when the COVID road will end, but I believe that it eventually will. In the meantime, I will just keep driving on it full of hope.