What Blessings Have You Found in the Great Covid-19 Detour?

“Some luck lies in not getting what you thought you wanted but getting what you have, which once you have got it you may be smart enough to see is what you would have wanted had you known.” – Garrison Keillor

It’s June. Shouldn’t the flu season be over by now? Why are people still getting sick? Why are the numbers rising instead of falling? Where is the end? What lies at the end of this road?

This isn’t the year I had planned. I know that almost everyone on the planet is feeling the same, but that knowledge doesn’t help.

In some ways, I feel like it’s the analogy of planning a trip to Italy, buying guide books, maps, reading up on the Renaissance, practicing Italian, buying a wardrobe of summery clothes, plus sunglasses and a wide-brimmed hat. Now that you’re all packed with a passport in your hand, you board the plane, settle in for a long flight with your novel, The Florence Affair, the pilot suddenly announces there’s been a change of plans. You’re not going to Italy, after all. You’re heading to the Scottish Highlands.

You really don’t know anything about Scotland. Maybe twenty years ago you may have read Outlander, but that wasn’t much of an introduction. Plus, your suitcase has a pair of sandals, not hiking boots. You’re dumped off the plane. The people are lovely and kind, and supposedly they’re speaking English, but it’s a dialect you can barely understand. You ditch your clothes and stock up on sweaters, wool socks. Eventually, as the shock wears off, you discover castles, wide skies, you explore fairy ponds and go in search of the Loch Ness Monster.

You find yourself in a life you never could have supposed. Unplanned and yet, beautiful. The scriptures tell us in Proverbs, Trust in the LORD with all your heart; and lean not unto your own understanding.

In all your ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct your paths.

What blessings have you found in the great covid 19 detour? What beyond your imagination things have come your way in the past three months?

If you’re not seeing them, here are a few inspirational quotes to help you look a little closer.

“There is in every true woman’s heart a spark of heavenly fire, which lies dormant in the broad daylight of prosperity; but which kindles up, and beams and blazes in the dark hour of adversity. “

– Washington Irving

“Embrace uncertainty. Some of the most beautiful chapters in our lives won’t have a title until much later.” – Bob Goff

“Infuse your life with action. Don’t wait for it to happen. Make it happen. Make your own future. Make your own hope. Make your own love. And whatever your beliefs, honor your creator, not by passively waiting for grace to come down from upon high, but by doing what you can to make grace happen… yourself, right now, right down here on Earth.” – Bradley Whitford

“We must be willing to let go of the life we planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us.” – Joseph Campbell