We seem to be rushing past the covid war into the turbulent waves of civil unrest. It’s tempting to miss the opportunity to reflect on the past few months, as the pressure of the next urgent crisis dominates. It takes courage to step back when the winds of change are blowing hard.
As the lock down restrictions continue to ease and we slowly (or even abruptly due to the riots) return to our public spaces, I want to metaphorically pause and pick up memorial stones. Hopefully, these stones will help me look back on this pandemic season some day and appreciate how much it transformed me.
The idea of “picking up 12 stones” came to me after reading through the book of Joshua in the month of April. Joshua instructed the priests to pick up 12 stones from the bottom of the Jordan River. The priests stepped into the river (by faith) while the current was flowing at its peak season, and millions of Israelites were able to miraculously cross over on dry ground. Joshua wanted them to pick up 12 stones and put them in a heap as a memorial so that they would never forget this extraordinary event.
Obviously, the number 12 had a personal significance to them. It was about their identity as the 12 tribes of Israel. Stones in biblical times (especially when piled) are used as:
- A witness – a form of accountability, a proof or a testimony.
- An altar – to commemorate significant encounters with the divine.
- An anchor – to hold something securely in position, or to ground one’s self.
Anchoring may also bring to mind the idea of rituals. I love creating rituals. They scaffold life. They secure meaning in the ever-changing, uncertain and rapid pace of our world.
Rituals also help me “remember” because it’s human nature to forget, especially when there’s so much happening at once.
When the news of the pandemic broke, it felt daunting – like standing at the edge of the Jordan River.
Our world stopped.
After a couple of months of dealing with the lockdown due to Covid-19…
Here we are…
We are slowly coming out on the other side of the Jordan – figuratively speaking. Crossing the Jordan is a powerful picture of how God’s power enables us to navigate our challenging circumstances.
Like the Israelites, I want to pause and pick up some stones before catching the next wave of events. Although my experience of the pandemic doesn’t compare to the magnitude of the miracle of crossing the Jordan, it’s still worth remembering. The little things are the big things, or the big rocks, so to speak.
I am tempted to “pick” the larger stones, like the zoom fatigue, work accomplishments, goals, etc. but that would be boring. Rather, I am counting the moments that cultivated in me a sense of wonder and gratitude, without implying that the entire lockdown season was a joy-ride.
Hopefully, this little stones will be the landmarks that will I bring me back “here” someday, as time passes by.
Here are my 12 stones :
1. Rainbows on the fridge – Nix started drawing rainbows at the beginning of the quarantine, and he clipped them all himself while repurposing his magnetic tiles to clip them on the fridge. Initially, He wanted to cover the entire walls of the kitchen with rainbows, but I negotiated with him and we settled for only the fridge. The metaphoric sign of “hope” was so refreshing to see especially in the first few weeks into covid shutdown.
2. Driving to Homeschool – I will fondly remember this original idea of eating breakfast, then going to Nix’s room to change him into his day-clothes (with urgency) so that we could drive fast from his room back to the kitchen, a.k.a. School. He started this imaginary driving in the first week of homeschooling and we continued with it religiously. He was always the driver (role-reversal),mimicking our usual rushing out of the house. Some days we flew a helicopter to school, and other days we went in a New York Taxi. He gets to choose.
3. April Calendar Countdown – along with homeschooling, this project worked well with what Nix was learning – counting, tracing and coloring. We created two calendars and counted down from April 1-24 for Nix’s 5th birthday. It did generate a “looking-forward-to” feeling, which helped us get through April pretty quickly.
4. Weekly Ritual in Nature – We craved open spaces and luckily, we found our perfect spot in the outskirts of the city, our go-to place once a week. We hadn’t been there prior to the pandemic so the newness was a treat. Nix would pick and throw stones into the water while we sat, without a cellular network. It always felt therapeutic “leaving” the city behind, without masks and also disconnecting from technology.
5. Bird & Animal Feeding – Sherol seeded this idea when she sneaked to our door in late April, beginning May (not sure). She dropped some bird and animal seeds for Nix. We got a bird-feeder and started feeding the birds first, and then the squirrels later. Prepandemic, breakfast was the most rushed meal in our home but during quarantine, it became a slow experience, watching the birds in the morning, chirp and eat. Such joy in seeing little non-human lives getting nourished in our backyard. I never thought I find such pleasure in such a simple activity like this.
6. Saturday Morning School Drop-Off – Driving to drop off school work on Saturday mornings – This gave me motivation to drive my car at least once a week, in the initial weeks. It was also helpful for Nix to “see” his school – he started at this new school and two weeks in, schools closed down. We didn’t want him to forget the premises. We also got to see the teachers, chat and get their perspective on what they are doing behind the scenes for our kids and thank them.
7. Awkward Socializing – I will remember the awkwardness of dropping off stuff in mailboxes to avoid contact, having visitors (especially the vulnerable) outside our home, the physical visits while maintaining social distance (or trying to observe it, it was really hard, most times I couldn’t *really keep the 6-feet apart rule to perfection). We celebrated important events like birthdays speedily outside our home, with masks and all. The goodbyes were strange and awkward. I will also remember picking what friends leave outside the door, and in our mailbox. I have found a new appreciation for our mailbox!
8. Father-Son Creations – “Being left out” is a better title for this. It was a blessing to watch my boys do their own thing without me, how much our son enjoyed extended creativity time away from me. Usually I’m the one at home and David goes to work so I naturally spend more time with him. With work a bit flexible, they built a robot, assembled and painted a Southwest plane, made forts, created a clock that works (with baby Moses in the middle), and many more fun things. This meant I having some good chunks of uninterrupted time – best gift for a mom.
9. Family Worship – Altars in ancient days were made of stones, as a point of contact for prayer and worship. Although we had established our family altar/ritual way before the pandemic, it became even more significant. We loved how we didn’t need to start “home church” but deepened it. That’s why I’m picking up this stone. We have felt His presence and protection even more during the days of lock down..
10. Songwriting – Well, this deserves a separate stone because my boys wrote their first song together. Nix insisted they wrote a song called “David to David”, in response to one of my favorite worship song titled “Grace to Grace.” They brainstormed, played and recorded it on a phone. Nix was on the guitar, and David on the tambourine. Nix led most of the creative process, the song definitely came out on his level…have a listen:
11. Cleaning & Unsubscribing Accounts –This brought me some joy, being able to deal with some tolerations – such as unnecessary subscriptions. We changed our cellphone packages, I canceled several products that I was paying for by default, pruned my FB account (sad seeing the number of now dead people I had to clean out). Confession: for years now, I have been challenging myself (secretly) not to let my number of Facebook friends exceed 2,000. Every now and then, I remove accounts that are outdated, or misaligned. In this season, I was able to remove about 200 accounts. Pssst…don’t tell 🙂
12. Friday Pizza & Movie Night – what’s funny about this is that, movie nights with a 5 year old means watching the same movie over and over. There were a few times that we tricked him (I literally had to hide some of his choices) so that we could watch something else. He used to love pajama pizza nights at school so this was really cool to join him in our pajamas.
OK, I’ must stop here. Actually, I didn’t think I could make it to 12 stones. Gratitude begets gratitude.
Now its your turn…
What personal moments will you remember as you move forward?
Written by Grace Samson-Song
Grace has been curious about transitions from a very young age. She currently consults and assists people to get unstuck in the areas of life purpose and calling, career choices and personal development. She is the founder of The Maximize group and the Author of Crossing Intersections.
