the waste of 2020

You’ve seen the memes. If 2020 was a slide, it’d be a cheese grater. If 2020 was a person, it’d be Joe Exotic. If 2020 was a food, it’d be Rachel Greene’s trifle from FRIENDS. Actually, it might more accurately be the pie Minny gave to Hilly in The Help.

This year. We’re not even halfway through and so many weird, unprecedented things have happened. The president went through an impeachment trial. Kobe Bryant died in a helicopter crash. Prince Harry & Meghan Markle stepped down as true royals. The olympics were postponed. Schools, restaurants, churches and life as we know it was shut down for the worldwide pandemic that is the coronavirus. Ahmaud Arbery & Breonna Taylor’s murders shocked us and reminded us that other tragedies continue to happen even while the world is in quarantine.

It’s enough to make you want to sign out, log off and quit everything. I know, I’ve been there. What has your numbing activity been? Eating carbs like you’re prepping for a marathon while joking about the quarantine 15? Opening the liquor cabinet earlier & earlier while making it cute and funny by calling it your quarantini? Not showering for a few days, moving from your bed to the couch and back again, all in the same comfy outfit, burning through Netflix and Hulu? Listen, no judgement. I have engaged in every single one of those activities. All of ‘em. And to the extreme.

But after a while, we have to choose better. get up. shower. move our bodies & make better choices. Because here’s the thing, even while it may look completely unrecognizable at times, life is still going on around us. 2020 is still rolling on through. And I don’t want to get to the end of it going “How did I manage to waste an entire year of my life?”

I’ve read a lot of Jeremiah’s work during quarantine. He was called the weeping prophet and, honestly, that sounds like my vibe these days. In Jeremiah 18, God was like “I have something to tell you. Meet me in the potter’s shop and I’ll fill you in.” The potter was sitting at his wheel like Demi Moore in Ghost but the jar he was making wasn’t going well. So he smooshed it to start over.

Even though clay isn’t as squishy as playdoh, it’s malleable for as long as it’s in the warmth of the potter’s hand. Full of potential, flexible & ready to be made into anything. It isn't until the clay is separated from the potter that it grows cold and hardens. As long as it is in the potter’s hands, it holds the potential of what could be.

“Can I not do to you as this potter has done to his clay?” God said to Jeremiah. “As the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand.”

So is this weird stage of life. It is in His hands. I don’t say that to tell you not to worry. I worry. I try to plan and end up frustrated. I get anxious thinking about what may or may not be. But what gives me hope today is that whatever today is, it won’t always be.

If 2020 isn’t what you’ve wanted it to be, stay in His hands. If your plans have been thwarted, if your family has been sick, if you’re grieving loss or are just confused and unable to even name what you’re feeling, stay in His hands. His word and His grace. You are not finished and can still be made into something new. This year is not over and it still holds the potential for greatness.

Even if you’ve been able to crush your goals and be successful - maybe you’re one of those people I’ve heard of who have been able to learn new things and thrive with all of their extra time in quarantine - the potter’s hands are still the place to be. When the clay is exactly as it was intended to be, not only does leaving the potter’s hands set into permanence, it also becomes fragile. Breakable. It’s a lot easier to remold something than it is to try and put shattered pieces back together.

2020 isn’t over. You’re not done yet. Not because who you are is flawed; we just don’t have the potter’s perspective of knowing what the final design actually is. I don’t know who I will be on the day God is finished with me. I don’t know what else 2020 has in store for us. But I do know that it’s not finished and therefore, there is potential.

You are not finished. You are not permanently stuck. You are not breakable. We’re still in the middle of the process.