January 2021
Entering 2020 with big hopes and aspirations, I was anticipating new hobbies, planning a family trip to Europe and hoping to spend more time with family and friends. Everything seemed to be going according to plan. The excitement was on. In February, tickets were purchased for a summer family trip to the UK. Within less than two weeks, the coronavirus pandemic was declared and subsequently the U.S. and many other countries were on lockdown.
In the beginning, I wasn’t too concerned. I thought it would only last for a few weeks. Then I started to think it will go on for a few months. But as it lingered on, my daughter Faith started to ask questions. “Daddy, when is the coronavirus going to go away? I wish the coronavirus will go away so I can go to school and play with my friends. Why is God allowing so many people to die of the coronavirus?”
Those are just a few of the several questions Faith asked during the quarantine. It would have been easy to respond that she should have faith (no pun intended), and that God is in control but how can one explain how a good God will allow such a devastating pandemic to cause so much pain and havoc to so many people?
And to be honest, in the beginning I had some mixed feelings of my own, feelings of anger, anxiety, and worry. If there was a year that had given us enough reasons to doubt, be stressed, and be unhappy, it was 2020. It is safe to say it was not an easy year, from wildfires, to racial injustices, political tensions, natural disasters, and a historic pandemic. It can be easy to lose sight of all the good, in the midst of the bad.
The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So, we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
As I took time to pray about the whole situation, I started to see things differently. While reflecting on the year, I remembered a hymn by JR Hutson and Johnson Oatman Jr. My mom used to sing to me as child whenever I was upset about something or disappointed. The chorus goes like this:
Count your blessings,
name them one by one;
Count your blessings, see
what God hath done;
Count your blessings,
name them one by one,
And it will surprise you
what the Lord hath done.
There were lots of changes this year, church was far from usual; no Eggstravaganza , no Christmas concert, and at times we couldn’t congregate. However, there were also several things to be thankful for: the ability to work from home and not have to drive two hours one-way to work every day; the opportunity to spend more time with my family and see my infant grow into a toddler, capturing special moments I certainly would have missed if I were commuting to work; the time for my back to heal following a terrible car accident I was in earlier in the year; the technology that allowed us to connect with family and friends around the world and, last but not least, the frontline and healthcare workers -the true heroes- who continue to risk their own lives in the daily fight against coronavirus.
As we begin 2021, I pray for peace, comfort, and healing for anyone who suffered a loss in 2020 or is going through pain and hurt. I also pray that God will help us to place our trust in Him and not in the world. For in Him we will find peace far better and beyond what the world can give.
“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me (Jesus) you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)
Jonathan Aklaku