Just about one year ago our lives all changed, as school, church, and nearly all social interaction were canceled in fear of a deadly pandemic. Recently I had the opportunity to write about that experience for my neighborhood congregation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons).
I decided to share this little essay, here on this blog, because maybe as you read it you will think about the experiences shared by your own communities. Maybe you will recognize, as I have, the many lessons we have learned together during this extraordinary year..
For one thing, we learned we can be unified even when we are forced to be apart. In the early weeks of the pandemic lock down, our neighborhood was eerily quiet, as even children stayed indoors. Yet we found ways to show that we cared for each other. Funny jokes were posted on the telephone poles, and a daily neighborhood poll was posted on one neighbor’s front door (with colored pebbles to record our responses). The sidewalks blossomed with hopscotch challenges, pictures, and inspiring quotes. Some front yards held chairs spaced six feet apart, so that neighbors could stop and chat safely. When Bryce Orton, because of the pandemic, was forced to return home from Colombia where he was teaching others about our faith, we held a parade of decorated cars to welcome him. Instead of a Primary party for the children, we were treated to a gallery of the children’s artwork, posted all around the church yard. Instead of a Christmas party, the church parking lot became ancient Palestine as ward families portrayed scenes from the birth of Christ. Car by car, we all drove past, listening to that sweet story and, though in separate cars, feeling unified by the Spirit of that season.
We have learned how to go through hard stuff and become better. Children have been home all day, with no friends, and no school to give parents a break. And on top of that, we’ve had to help the children try to keep up with school on-line. We’ve had to work from home; some of us have lost jobs. Some of us have been very sick with Covid-19, even hospitalized. When some were very sick and dying, we were not able to visit them in the hospital or care center to comfort them. When some of our dear friends and neighbors passed away, we missed having the chance to mourn communally at a funeral service. And yet, with each hard experience, we have learned. We learned how to work together as a family, we learned to manage on-line school, we learned how to support from a distance those who were ill, we learned how to mourn without a funeral lunch. We learned to pray and rely on God. We learned to handle the challenges with faith and grace.
Through it all, we learned that, even if we can’t go to church, we can worship and draw closer to God. We were thankful for the Church-wide “Come Follow Me Program,” instituted just before the pandemic hit, which provided materials for our personal and family gospel study. Perhaps before Covid, we were more comfortable sharing spiritual experiences formally in a testimony meeting or a Sunday School class. But during Covid-times, we found that we were sharing our gospel insights more naturally and more often with those in our homes. I have loved hearing many of you tell of the sweet spirit you have felt in your homes as you have studied together. I have certainly felt that spirit. Some of us used Zoom to hold gospel study meetings with distant extended family, meetings that I imagine will go on even after the pandemic lockdown is lifted. The blessing and power of the priesthood became even more real to us as we watched our husbands and sons prepare and bless the sacrament [Communion] each week in our own living rooms. Together, we joined in a Church-wide fast, praying for the pandemic to be alleviated. Together, we shared on social media the many things we are grateful for. And, as we faced the challenges of the pandemic each day, we felt the real need for the grace offered us by our Savior’s atoning sacrifice.
There is no doubt that the last year has been hard. A year ago, we never would have believed all that would happen. But it has happened, and we have survived. We have not only survived, but in some ways we have even thrived. I feel I am a better person now than I was a year ago, and I imagine many of you feel the same. As President Russell M. Nelson [the president of our Church] taught us last October, “Unusual times can bring unusual rewards.” May we all bring the lessons we have learned into whatever the future holds.
