How Did 2020 Affect Your Vision?
By: Mary Hood
Tags: Spirituality, Vision, 2020, Life, Hope

I poured over my notes from the past year to encapsulate 12 months into 1500 words or fewer. I’m not that good with words… yet.

I was quite happy to see 2019 end and exceedingly hopeful for 2020. This was going to be the year of clarity I waited so long for. The numbers fit perfectly, didn’t they?

If I were to tell all, it would be a blend of gossip, slander, and pitiful pouting, and you would be sorry you ever read this.

I’ll just talk about something else.

This is what I found out according to

“Quantum physics is the study of matter and energy at its most fundamental level. A central tenet of quantum physics is that energy comes in indivisible packets called quanta. Quanta behave very differently to macroscopic matter: particles can behave like waves, and waves behave as though they are particles.”

No, I am not a physicist, not even close, but I thought about time and space, so I looked this up.

There is time, and there is space, a distance. Yesterday and today are separated by time. Where I was a year ago is a long way from where I am today. To be distanced is as ordinary as time.

Memories fill in the space that time and distance take away. Whether or not they are good memories can determine your state of mind and behavior.

They say a virus of pandemic proportion poured out upon the world this year. The experts say the solution is to shut everything down and socially distance from one another. I am not an expert in the fields of science or medicine. In fact, I am not an expert on anything. However, I do know (as well as all of you) some repercussions of separation.

Struck blind

It didn’t take long for the world to gather and actuate every bit of knowledge available as billions of people suddenly were in the dark about this invisible spread. Christians across the world received a call to arms to pray for divine intervention. Slowly, as social and political issues swept through the world simultaneously, violence and fear of ordinary people added confusion to the mix. Information changed from state to state, and no consistency or standard provided anyone with a sense of stability. Left to our own opinions and beliefs, we were on our own.

“looking only at Jesus, the originator and perfecter of the faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Heb 12:2, NASB)

What I desire to take from 2020 to 2021 is a clearer vision that time and distance cannot endow.

As for many, this year's personal issues compounded the situation. I decided everything was too heavy to handle, and so I got on my knees every morning and sought God. In doing so, I can testify that although many situations still appear unchanged, my vision is changing. I went from being blind to blurry to cross-eyed.

Another pouring

The Christmas season is upon us. No, we don’t know the exact date of Jesus’s birth, but we celebrate it on a certain day every year. It is the day God poured out His love upon a world that was blinded by sin. But no one then, save a few shepherds and some wise men, even paid attention. They chose to remain blind and ignore the mercy and grace raining down upon them. After all, what could a baby do for them? Or a carpenter’s son from Nazareth? Or a convicted, crucified common blasphemer? And who can rise from the dead?

Time and distance are not healers

Jesus was a historically proven miracle worker and risen Savior, still pouring out mercy and reconciliation in the hope that the blind will see and the deaf will hear, and the lame will walk. But many won’t.

They will keep their distance and hope time will just make everything go away.

You can’t see quanta packets of energy; you can’t see waves; you can only measure them. Quantum Physics is still considered a theory, but I believe there is far more evidence of fact than evolution. The Word of God is still considered by many a myth.

The fundamentals of existence do not require scientific proof. God need not that you prove Him fact or fallacy. It is by His mercy alone we know anything at all.

“Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 15:13, CSB)

At the end of every year, I pray for a special Bible scripture to carry me through the next. Each year the Lord is faithful. During this year, I thought I was wrong in choosing it, but recently I realized how my joy and peace have nothing to do with what is going on around me, and my inner hope is overflowing.

I want to remember this year, not for the sight it took from me, but for the vision it gave me.

Whatever happens in 2021(and never say it can’t get worse), I do not want to look back.