“It is always darkest just before the Day dawneth”
Thomas Fuller, A Pisgah Sight of Palestine And the Confines Thereof
“They that hope in the Lord will renew their strength, they will soar as with eagles’ wings; They will run and not grow weary, walk and not grow faint.”
Isaiah 40:31
That Dissonance Between Realism and Optimism
Lately, my mind has been fixated on two seemingly contradictory feelings, a kind of dissonance that you may be experiencing as well. There’s excitement and growing optimism for the promising developments we have witnessed on the vaccine front to combat the global spread of COVID-19 and clearly being reflected in the record-setting performance of the stock market. But there is also growing fear and anxiety over the alarming data we are seeing each and every day for hospitalizations, new infections, and the dramatic increase in the death toll that now totals over 300,000 Americans and more than 1.6 million people worldwide. COVID-19 fatigue is very real and quite rampant; we are exhausted from having had to carry those heavy crosses called loneliness and social isolation for the past 10 months; we grieve for not only those we have lost this past year to the pandemic but for all of the things that used to be an integral part of our everyday life, or those so called “living” losses; and we especially miss our loved ones during this special time of Holiday celebrations that for millions of us will be virtual and not the “in person” gatherings our hearts are used to and clamor for. In many ways, the famous words of the English Theologian, Thomas Fuller — “It is always darkest just before the dawn” — seems even more relevant today than it was when he first uttered them back in 1650 and captures that deep contradiction and dissonance many of us feel in this moment.
Chariots of Fire and the Importance of Faith and Hope
Things in our personal and work lives will often get worse before they get better and there is an unmistakable realism in saying that because most of us have probably experienced that reality at some point. Yet, even in the worst of whatever circumstances we may find ourselves in, our human nature compels us to look for any signs of hope and healing, reflecting our optimistic nature. However, my feelings of contradiction and dissonance have brightened considerably during these past few days as I reflected more deeply on the Scripture readings from our Daily Mass on December 9th beginning with the prophet Isaiah 40:31 and its timeless message of faith — “They that hope in the Lord will renew their strength, they will soar as with eagles’ wings; They will run and not grow weary, walk and not grow faint.” It’s a most beautiful and inspirational passage, reminding us that God will provide the graces to help us work through our challenges, our disappointments, and our shortcomings. And, one couldn’t have asked for a more comforting Gospel reading that day than Matthew 11: 28-30 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Both readings offered so much consolation and inner peace, lifting my spirits greatly and reminding me of a scene from Chariots of Fire, that great Oscar winning classic from 1981 and the inspirational story of Eric Liddell, Gold Medalist in the Men’s 400 Meters during the 1924 Olympics.https://www.linkedin.com/embeds/publishingEmbed.html?articleId=8559992977093072395
A man of extraordinary Christian faith, Liddell decided to forgo the 100 Meters, his favorite race, because organizers had scheduled heats for that race on the Sabbath. In the clip, Liddell reads those powerful words from Isaiah 40 to his congregation at The Church of Scotland set to the powerful images of his British teammates participating in the 1924 Olympics. The clip is a powerful testament to the role that faith played in helping Liddell and his teammates power through all of the physical and emotional demands they endured in preparing and training for their Olympic race. Like any race we run in life, they too got tired just like we are at this very moment living through a global pandemic; their energy level was depleted, and just like us they got knocked down many times during their race. But their faith in the end was what helped them to get back up again because they knew that the faith journey requires us to finish the race. It’s not so important that we win the race or what place we come in, but we must finish the race no matter how long it may take or how difficult the challenges may be along the way.
How Will You Finish the COVID-19 Race?
We may never run in an Olympic race like Liddell and his British teammates did all those years ago but all of us are running a race. COVID-19 is perhaps the longest race we will ever run during our lifetime, resembling in many ways an Ultra Marathon or Ironman Triathlon experience. Thomas Fuller’s words from above were indeed quite prescient because these next few months will most definitely be super challenging and full of darkness despite the promise and hope that we know will come with the new vaccines. God will give us the grace to get us through this difficult period and as Isaiah so beautifully said, “He will lift us up on eagles’ wings”. We can also take comfort in knowing that we do not walk through this demanding experience alone, or in the pain, grief, or fatigue that we are feeling as we walk through the desert and the wilderness that is COVID-19. If you ask for His help, He will be there and He walk with you and help pick you up when you get knocked down and get you back to where you once were before the pandemic or to those new heights you seek when the pandemic ends. So, let’s keep focused on staying safe and embrace all CDC safety protocols to protect our own families and each other during this most critical time. If we can continue to do all of these admittedly very hard things even though we are fatigued, depleted of our energy, and consumed by feelings of loneliness and social isolation, then our optimism over the promise of the new vaccines will indeed be justified and that darkness we are also feeling will soon “fade to black” and remain in our rear-view mirror where it belongs.
So beyond tapping into your inner faith and spirituality, how do you plan to get through this most difficult period of Fuller’s “darkness before the dawn”? Could you be a beacon of light for someone else in your family and in your communities, who might be struggling in this jumble of darkness that we are all living through? Can we be kinder, gentler, more compassionate, and empathetic to those who are suffering? Beyond those questions, how will you feel when you cross your finish line of COVID-19? What would you like to do that you have not been able to do during these past 10 months? How might your life and your job be different once you have crossed the COVID-19 finish line? Make no mistake about it — the light has come and shined through the pandemic even though we sometimes haven’t taken the time to see it. And those lights will continue to shine even in this dark period that we know is here before the dawn. The light may not be as bright as we would like it to be but it will continue to come whenever any one of us can step outside of ourselves and be that beacon of light and hope for someone else.
I Can Only Imagine!
As for me, I am taking a cue from those great lyrics of one of the Christmas classic we all grew up with — “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town” — and I am visualizing all of the things I want to do when I cross the finish line of my race with COVID-19. Here is a just a small sample of the bright lights I see at my finish line:
So, what about you — do you have your own list of what it will look like when you cross your own finish line with COVID-19? If you haven’t, have fun imagining what it will be like and close your eyes and listen to this uplifting song from MercyMe called “I Can Only Imagine”. It will help you see the lights that await you. Stay safe, be the light, embrace your 3 F’s of your faith, family, and friends, and never ever lose hope because hope never disappoints.
Wishing all of my clients, fellow coaches, colleagues, and friends the gift of God’s abundant blessings and the Happiest of Holidays,
Dr. K
