The year is winding down\u2026. just a few more weeks and it\u2019ll be 2022. Last year about this time, we were all thinking about how bad 2020 had been and we were all looking forward to 2021 being a better year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Well, in some, or many, ways, 2021 has been just as difficult, and some ways more<\/em> difficult, than last year \u2014 despite how excruciating 2020 was. Thinking back, 2020 was brutal \u2014 it wasn\u2019t just a global pandemic that made things tough. Racial injustice, rioting, political division and a complete change of life as we knew it all compounded to produce a tougher year than any of us have lived through in our lifetimes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I figured we\u2019d be approaching some semblance of normalcy by now, but it seems that we\u2019re far from that. In some places in the world, lockdowns continue. But even in those areas where things have fully reopened with no restrictions, the landscape is much different than it was just a couple of years ago. People aren\u2019t flooding back to church (at least not our church) or some of the businesses like they used to. The pandemic is certainly not \u201cover,\u201d and while I guess some progress has been made, racial justice is far from resolved. And then of course, we can\u2019t seem to find a central message that we can all unite around \u2014 divisions are either static or have grown deeper. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I hadn\u2019t known about it until this year, but there is a global supply chain problem, and inflation is suddenly an issue \u2014 it\u2019s just a highly unstable environment. I keep hearing about the \u201cGreat Resignation,\u201d as lots (and lots) of people quit their jobs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Last year, everyone, for the most part, was unified about a course of action to address the pandemic \u2014 at least for the first month or two. But before long, the pandemic became not just political, but partisan. I feel bad for our leaders\u2026. everything they do \u2014 or don\u2019t do \u2014 is too much, not enough or just wrong. And everyone is happy to let them know it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I was just thinking the other day how the last two years have led to broken personal relationships and family tensions over differing viewpoints, and none of that appears to be letting up any time soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I hate to sound pessimistic, but normally we can endure things if we know there\u2019s a solution coming or an end in sight. Unfortunately, I don\u2019t see any easy solution in sight \u2014 to anything. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Probably, for most of us, how good or bad 2022 will be is going to come down to the choices we make \u2014 the things we say yes to and the things we say no to. My personal world has never felt smaller than it has over the past couple of years. That seems a bit strange, because our world is more connected than it\u2019s ever been. This year was full of events with global repercussions like extreme weather events, the ongoing effects of the pandemic or the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. Every day there were reminders of just how significantly something happening on the other side of the world could affect us personally. Just think about how one container ship getting stuck in the Suez Canal caused the shelves in our local stores to be emptier than I ever remember.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n We all tend to be resistant to change, but the last couple of years have seen massive global upheavals that\u2019s caused us to adjust to new ways of living \u2014 not an easy thing to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There\u2019s no question that in 2022 the pandemic will continue to create huge, lasting changes that will take years to understand\u00a0 \u2014 and accept. But throughout history, the world has adapted to big disruptions and survived\u2026. I\u2019m sure we\u2019ll do it again. I\u2019m looking forward to 2022 even though it\u2019ll certainly make me find ways to create new routines. I\u2019ve heard it said that new challenges equal new opportunities. Hopefully next year about this time, I\u2019ll be listing all the things than made 2022 the \u201cbest year ever.\u201d The year is winding down\u2026. just a few more weeks and it\u2019ll be 2022. Last year about this time, we were all thinking about how bad 2020 had been and we were all looking forward to 2021 being a better … Continue reading
\u2014 30 \u2014<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"