IT’S THE SMALL THINGS
Alex Eduque
God’s plan 2020. If I were to summarize, or put a theme to label what the year has been thus far, it would be that. By the third quarter of last year, I thought I had this year planned down pat – it would be travel clad for the most part as I was in the midst of planning a destination wedding. Turns out, plans only pushed through for the most part until the first week of March. Tides turned after – we were locked down, and locked in our homes, life came to a sudden halt, we were faced with a pandemic and its consequences which we were most unprepared for. We were paralyzed with fear, for the most part. All of a sudden, our planners were useless, all our plans fell through or had to be changed, amended, or down-scaled. We quickly adapted and learned that flexibility and resilience are key to survival. Most importantly, we began to appreciate and seek out the small glimmers of happiness in our everyday lives.
Plans fell through for the most part for most of us, that is for sure. At the very least, they heavily shifted. But there were also those plans that though may have pushed through in a significantly different manner, still did. There were just plans too great to be fazed by the pandemic, but at the end of the day, I have come to realize also that these were heavily fueled by faith and fate. At the end of the day, you could plan all you wanted, but if it was not meant to be, it would not push through. In the same way that despite the many hindrances and obstacles that may have faced you, if you remained steadfast and unfazed, you would overcome. God’s plan prevailed. And God’s plan will always be greater than yours. Of that, I am now most sure.
This pandemic has opened my eyes to the reality that regardless of what religion one practices and observes, there is a greater power that stirs our direction and whose plan will always prevail. That is the element of fate that we must all learn to accept. Our stars do align, and our destiny exists, but the route towards it, in other words, the journey we take and all the maneuvering is what adds texture and substance to our otherwise mundane life. Faith plays a big role in that prayer is capable of guiding us and giving us strength to cope, but prayer, I realized, is also meant to be a dialogue. It is not just about asking. Prayer must be an everyday habit – time we set apart during even our busiest of days to give thanks and seek counsel. At the end of the day, God knows what is in your heart. Regardless of what we say out loud or think, He knows the depths of our being – even those truths which we may choose to deny or blind ourselves to. This is just one of the many realities the pandemic has awakened me to. More importantly, this is one of the many hard truths the situation has allowed me to grow to learn to accept.
This year would have been so different had it not been for the COVID-19 outbreak. It perhaps would have been special, yes, but it would be more similar to previous years. Instead, 2020 to me has not only been an eye-opener, it has also been a most humbling experience that has most certainly placed the most important things into perspective – things we will no longer and should no longer again take for granted. 2020 has most certainly been a year like no other, but it has also seen my growth like no other. It tested my emotional maturity and decision making to the hilt, and it is the year that has made me most grateful for those who choose to stick around despite the physical distance the pandemic has placed upon us. When life bounces back to a more similar semblance of the “old normal” that we are used to, may we never forget the learning that the “new normal” has taught us. It may seem small, but these small things are in fact what matter most.