Lessons from the Lockdown

We have been told that this is a very risky time in the fight against coronavirus. The danger is that we mistake a careful relaxing of the rules for a return to normal behaviour and as a result cause a spike in infections.

Depending on our personal situation, today might not have made much difference at all. We've just carried on as we have for the past ten weeks. But for others, things over these next few days may take a few steps back towards 'normality'. 

There is another danger with this stage.

During the first few weeks of lockdown, I heard and read many people discovering things that they had forgotten in the busyness of everyday life. For us, some of the positives of this time have included daily walks, daily family devotions after breakfast and playing a lot more board games. 

I've had conversations with others about making sure that things don't go 'back to normal' when this is all over - but that we do things differently because of the lessons from the lockdown.

And the danger is that we forget those lessons as the restrictions start to ease. As more things come back into our lives other things will have to make way. That's when we need to ask what we did learn over the last ten weeks? What our priorities are going to be? Because we can't do everything. So if we're going to make space and time for some of the things that we've rediscovered in lockdown, there are going to be other things that we're not going to be able to pick up again, even though we're allowed to.

The danger is that we just drift back to where we were. So now might be a good time to take stock once again. What are the things we want to hold on to from this time? And how are we going to make the space and time for those things to happen?