Lessons learned?

Lessons learned?
 
No matter what life delivers to my doorstep, it is my intention to remember that I have a choice to treat it as an opportunity or to focus on thinking it is unfair, undesirable, or unjust.  It is easy to miss some of the more subtle opportunities.  Many of us have the habit of allowing life to happen and  having a negative reaction as if we did not have a choice of how to respond. Of course, there are illnesses and conditions which do affect the ability to exercise a  choice.  For most of us, however, we have the ability to embrace what comes our way and attend to what we need to learn.
 
When I suggest that I want to treat all which life presents as an opportunity I am not suggesting a Pollyanna approach to life.  That approach seems to ignore even real dangers and is often very disrespectful of the pain which some condition or event is causing.  The Covid-19 virus is resulting in death for many and significant economic hardship for many others.  The corresponding anxiety and the pain of loss is very real and needs to be treated with great compassion and respect.  At the same time the visit of Covid-19  is an opportunity to relearn some useful lessons.  These lessons include:
 

• Noticing how inflexible we can be or our attachment to being able to function  in a certain way. 
• Noticing the positive results of having more time to appreciate the magic of spring, the joy of friendships,  the pleasure of good books, the enjoyment of  cooking and the contentment which comes from solitude.
• Accepting at a new level that Mother Nature is in charge.  No matter what plans we make or what attachments we have to people, places and things it can all be taken away in an instant.
• Accepting that this life dance is very tenuous and very brief. It can end at any moment and will always end in a relatively brief time.
•  Accepting that as communities and nations we need to be better prepared to  deal with emergencies. We need to have money and certain supplies in reserve.
• Resolving to live in a manner which leaves fewer regrets; regrets of not making that phone call, of not forgiving someone, of not having more device free moments with family and friends.

 
Again and again as we greet the Covid-19 I am reminded of the Serenity prayers offered by Reinhold Niebuhr during WW Ii
 
God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change; 
courage to change the things I can; 
and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time; 
enjoying one moment at a time; 
accepting hardships as the pathway to peace; 
taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it; 
trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will; 
that I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
forever in the next. 
Amen.
 
I appreciate the fact that both and the short (first verse) and the long version of the prayer offer the opportunity to approach this life dance in a way which is realistic and hopeful. Whether or not one believes in a god of one’s understanding or a higher power, it makes perfect sense to seize the opportunity to have a positive impact when possible and to accept what one cannot change today.   Certainly we may not be a scientist and will not invent a cure or a vaccine for the Covid-19.   We may not have the money to rescue friends whose small businesses may now fail because they are required to be closed. We may have the power to be emotionally available to others: family friends, neighbors, clients, colleagues.  We may have the power to create a safe, easy to disinfect home and office space.   We  do have the power to do all we can to honor the social distancing rules without neglecting our responsibilities to others. We do have the power to simultaneously celebrate spring and the promise it brings and to respect all the lessons of  Mother Nature.