Space to think, feel and breathe again

Sick of being in lockdown? Maybe before the pandemic hit, we were already in some kind of lockdown? A lockdown from our feelings? Ugh, you just said the F word, Wendy…feelings. Having nowhere to go and nothing to do it created the space to think, feel and breathe again.

We all polished our busyness badge before the lockdown. This medal of honour that was pinned firmly to our chests was worn with pride. A pass that got everyone onto the busyness train that nobody knew how to stop once they were on it. Nobody knew where the brake was on their lives, so we all just kept going at a hundred kilometres an hour on the busy train, watching every rest station we wanted to get off at flash before our eyes as we headed into another long, dark tunnel called life.

When the lockdown first started during the pandemic, we were all wondering what the future held and what the ‘new normal’ we were living in was going to look like. Would things ever be the same, we wondered? I have asked myself this question over this season, “Do I want my life to go back to the old normal?” Maybe, like me, you are scared to death of facing your old normal where being busy was a ‘thing’. Maybe during this lockdown you’ve been searching for a key to get you off that train. Well, I have good news for you, my friend. The key was with you all along. Jesus.

If you have a personal relationship with Jesus, you already hold the key. Or, to put it another way, the key, which IS Jesus, held you. He knows you’ve been running from yourself for quite some time now. But now the lockdown has forced you to think, feel and breathe again. If you haven’t already realised, the busy train travels on a continuous loop. And the lumps of feelings we shovel into the firebox, like black coal, keeps the busy train running, until it produces hot steam that has enough pulling power to do life on our own, thank you very much, Jesus.

However, feelings are a combustible material, like coal, they explode into heat. We are all guilty of letting off a little steam with our family and friends when we are under pressure and we don’t acknowledge our feelings. Shoving them down, down, down into the dark tunnel of numbness until we can’t see a way out.

That’s not the life we are called to when we have Jesus as the key and the key holds you. It derails you. But He can get your train back on the right tracks and at a sustainable pace, if you just reach down into your jacket pocket and pull out the key that is a relationship with Him.

But be warned, once you push that key into the lock and let Jesus unlock your lockdown, you start to think, feel and breathe again. The new normal of getting back in touch with your feelings, means that your life will never be the same again. Your ‘new normal’ will be very different once this pandemic is over. Once you’ve discovered that Jesus is the key to your happiness, your deepest longings, your dreams and your future. Once you see that Jesus is the only pulling power your train needs and not yourself, you’ll start to see other people on the busy train who are scared and afraid of what their new normal could look like in this lockdown.

Well, dear friend, you know what to do, don’t you? It’s simple. Just reach into your pocket and hand them the key.

Wendy xo

What will your ‘new normal’ look like after this pandemic is over? I’d love to hear from you!