What I Learned: Spring 2020

What a difference a year makes. This time last year, Raúl and I were in the States, traveling and spending time with friends and family. And I don’t think we would have believed you if you would have told us what we would be doing now. Yet, this time right now is so important. Nothing is wasted despite the feeling that life is on pause. We never know what God is doing below the surface, how He is calling us deeper and pushing us forward, leading us to repentance and asking us to change in His strength. I want to be invested in learning now more than ever. There are things the Lord is saying now that we need to hear, and He may be saying it through voices that would surprise us. And, perhaps more than any other season, I am seeing the role that reflection plays in growth. So, here are just some of the things I’ve learned this spring: 

Photo by Monoar Rahman Rony

1) Re-evaluation of how we use our time is so important to practice. I need to keep asking myself why I am choosing to do something, if it is providing growth for me and/or others, and whether it’s something that the Lord is asking me to do or not. It’s so easy to slip into a routine and keep plugging away and miss the memo that this isn’t actually what I want to be doing or what I’m being asked to do.

2) Keeping up with sourdough bread requires some serious commitment. I had a very short-lived phase of making sourdough things. I’m happy that now I know I can do it, but that doesn’t mean I want to keep up with feeding it every day. I still don’t really like baking as much as I like cooking.







3) Even a tiny garden is better than no garden at all. My plants bring me great joy even though we basically have no yard. A little creativity goes a long way. My ivy is finally climbing our back wall, and the rainy season is bringing everything to life. Being so confined in this season, being able to watch my plants grow reminds me that this season that feels like a pause isn’t stagnant.

4) It never hurts to ask. I’m the kind of person who has to psych herself up to “bother” people. If my waiter brings me the wrong order, I generally just go with it because it takes more energy to speak up about it. I put myself in the other person’s shoes and think, “Maybe they just had a bad day, and if I say something I’ll make it worse.” My husband is the total opposite because he owns his own business. He has no problem saying anything because he wants his own customers to feel comfortable demanding good service from him. All that to say, I really prepped myself to ask Delta Airlines for a refund on our plane tickets and was prepared to cite my rights as kindly as possible, etc., and it was totally unnecessary. I asked; they complied in less than ten minutes. Quick and painless.


Photo by Sarah Gualtieri

5) When I can’t control anything else in life, I will resort to exerting control in my grocery purchases. I may not be able to run in my neighborhood or go to the hardware store whenever I want, but buddy, I sure can buy Jello chocolate pudding and string cheese like I’m 10-years-old (on my allotted day to go out and buy groceries).

6) Jackbox online games are fun to play with friends and family. I had never heard of these games before quarantine, but they’ve brought about hours of entertainment as irreverent as some of them are. I’m not getting paid to say this; I’m just all for something that lets me hang with my people in a way that brings laughter and light-heartedness.

7) As cliché as it sounds, each day’s trouble is enough. Taking it day by day is the way to stay sane. Just this spring, we have been on lockdown for 85 days (with very little end in sight), and our healthcare system here is collapsed. We have seen the hillside in front of our house burning ever closer. We have prayed with friends whose properties here had flames licking over its borders. We have made the hard decision to be stuck in Honduras due to Raúl’s immigration situation and the state of lockdown here. Our dog was sick for a bit. Raúl’s guard dog at his business passed away unexpectedly. We’ve had a mouse that for the life of us we can’t seem to remove from our household by humane means or otherwise. Raúl and I have fought over the best way to stay safe and what precautions should look like. Raúl and I both celebrated birthdays in unconventional ways. Raúl and I have both had scares when family members were exposed to someone who later tested positive with COVID-19. My heart also went out to a past friend who experienced deep loss as a result of COVID. We have been overwhelmed by the number of people here who have no food in their homes and have been working continuously to make our own drop in the bucket in keeping people fed in the midst of lockdown. We had tropical storm Amanda pass over us bringing extended rain that caused flooding and landslides, but we got off easy compared to our brothers and sisters in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Mexico. And then there is everything else that everyone else is dealing with—the heartbreak of the numbers of COVID deaths, the heartbreak of ongoing pain in the black community due to racism and the need for change, the exhaustion of how politics sink their teeth into everything and make everything that should be deeply human something deeply ridiculous, etc. My soul is so tired and so inadequate, but today I am breathing. Today I have a roof over my head and food to eat. Today I have a Savior who draws near to me as I draw near to Him, so today with all of its trouble, is enough.

8) The best way to develop some new habits is to tack the new habits onto things you already do. This information came courtesy of an episode of the Armchair Expert podcast with guest, BJ Fogg. An example of this would be that every time you check social media, you do five crunches. I feel like I have done this at different points in my life without being conscious of it. So, it’s a nice concept to be conscious and intentional about.

9) John C. McGinley has an amazing approach to acting. My family was really into the show Scrubs when it was on. So now that Donald Faison and Zach Braff have started a re-watch podcast, my brother and I have been reliving a show that feels like home. John C. McGinley has been a guest on the podcast a few times, and the way that he describes how he finds the heart behind a character is awesome. For example, he dedicated his performance as Dr. Cox on Scrubs to communicate to his special needs son how much he loves him. Every episode, he tried to find at least one moment where he could act with that kind of heart and intention. I’ve never heard any other actor describe their process this way.

10) How to make romesco sauce. This sauce is amazing. I could eat it with a spoon. Here’s a recipe example, but there are lots of variations out there: https://www.feastingathome.com/romesco-sauce-recipe/


Photo by Izabelle Acheson

11) There are so many elements of the Bible that have become commonplace that are worth digging deeper into. In this season, God has been bringing me back to a lot of fundamentals—the symbolism behind communion, the symbolism of the Church as the Bride of Christ, the importance of the Hebrew calendar and Pentecost, and so much more. It’s not even that I needed to dig deeper into this to somehow apply a cookie cutter lesson to my life to run with. Rather, it’s been a season of just being reminded of the depths of who He is, what a detailed Writer He is, and how He wastes nothing and no opportunity for meaning or foreshadowing. It’s been an odd but beautiful form of encouragement in this season.

12) I need time to discern how to love well. Quality time is my love language, so is it any wonder that I don’t personally define love as knee-jerk reactions or zeal without taking the time to ponder, to feel, and to develop empathy? I have seen this with COVID-19—what I feel the Holy Spirit leads me to do in love will look different than someone else, and I want to honor both approaches. Some people may feel the need to go out and pray for people or visit the lonely or hand out food and hugs to the forgotten. Someone else may feel that the most loving thing to do is to stay home and avoid contaminating and contamination, communicate with others only via virtual means, and to donate toward the needs of others. I don’t think any one of us has this figured out, and if I’m honoring, I have to let you hear from the Holy Spirit for yourself in the same way that I have to give myself permission to hear from the Holy Spirit for my own decisions as well.

This has also been the reason that while I feel a desire to write what is coming up inside of me in relation to the great human hurt that is on display in the US right now and the devastation that racism causes, I need time to do that from an honoring, considerate, and loving place. My voice isn’t the one that needs to be heard the loudest right now anyway. And, my opinions need to be tempered by experiences that I personally haven’t had. But, I also believe that silence can be very unloving. So, this is me again saying—I am listening. I am learning. I am taking the time to sit in this and let myself feel from the perspectives of others. I am being proactive in discerning how to love better, but I need time before I can voice what all of that means for me.

We have hopefully all been learning this past spring, and I am confident that the invitation to continue to learn will continue deep into summer and beyond.