Faith Venture

The calendar app icon on my phone showed “1”. I can’t believe February is gone. It’s March.

A year ago I had completed all the financial transactions for selling and buying a house. I was feverishly making trips to Lowe’s and Mennard’s buying boxes, and more boxes, and packing tape, and packing material. You get so busy at life change moments that you don’t have time to reflect.

A year ago also the beginnings of the pandemic were rising to our consciousness. Little did we foresee the way we’d live this past year. I imagine many of us felt a little like MacBeth this year:

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing. — MacBeth, William Shakespeare

That is the first thought that came to me as I settled into my chair to contemplate these thoughts. March 1. Another month. What did I do with February? What will I do with March?

The thing is, I get to choose. Whatever happens, I can choose my response. I can choose how I view the new month. Like a tabula rasa, a blank slate, to write the next month of my spiritual formation, with what I do, think, write.

Perhaps we can see an end of the worst of the pandemic dawning and a new day appearing. It’s all in our attitude. We can choose that, too. We can sing with Annie (from the musical):

The sun will come out

Tomorrow

Bet your bottom dollar

That tomorrow

There’ll be sun!

Annie

Microsoft provides a link for me to receive articles from its media relations department. There are probably a half-dozen a day that are almost all technology-driven, of course.

This headline earlier in the week grabbed my attention:

New Microsoft data shows improved civility online, driven by teens

Feb 8, 2021   |   Jacqueline Beauchere – Global Digital Safety Advocate

I certainly was surprised, but also pleased, by the research that supported the headline. This research was from last year. I’m not sure how much increased civility I witnessed. But then, I help myself. Following my own advice of watching what I fill my mind with, I blocked anyone on Facebook or Twitter who sends more than one hate-filled message. I don’t visit sites for that. My mental health has improved despite being in a new community during the pandemic such that I know almost no one.

The article continues:

The global Microsoft Digital Civility Index (DCI) improved in 2020, bouncing back from its lowest reading in four years, even as Covid-19 upended the world. A feeling of solidarity during the pandemic among people in some regions, as well as responsible online interactions by teenagers in particular, helped drive the index’s three-point recovery. We are releasing these findings in conjunction with international Safer Internet Day to shine a light on the need for safer, healthier and more respectful online interactions among all people.

I am optimistic about the younger generations. To the point of disappointment that our presidential election contested a Boomer (certainly exhibiting many of the negatives of my generation) and someone of the generation before the Boomers. But I see hope with some younger people of both sides.

As bad as things seem, there are lights shining across the globe, if we but recognize them. And help guide them out of the land of “fear and loathing” toward a brighter future.

It’s just as too many people seem to miss the point of the Revelation of St. John. In the battle between the power of God (exemplified by, well, God) and the power of evil (exemplified by Rome), speaking for the people of God, “We win!” And if we look, we can see signs of that brighter future peeking out. I’m optimistic about the young people coming along.