As the world wakes up and we emerge from our COVID cocoons, our re-entry echoes the start of a New Year. We are ready for the end of something and the beginning of another.
But before I hurriedly put a bow on this pandemic so I can race to sweating and staring into the sun while I order my overpriced drink outdoor happy hours, a moment is due to reflect on what I will do differently in the wake of all that COVID has wrought. What will my COVID resolutions be?
See more family? Treasure each smile I share with a now unmasked stranger? Savor every time I sip my friend’s cocktail before I order one for myself? Now that the world has been turned upside down, it may be the smallest things that feel the most indulgent.
In hopes of resisting the temptation to have my COVID resolutions be reflective of their self-centered New Year’s counterparts (e.g., lose weight or become fluent in some esoteric subject), my COVID resolutions have one rule: they cannot center on me.
So, what will they center on? What better place to source my resolution inspiration from than from the Original design itself? What was God’s original plan when He designed us, before a crafty serpent and the Fall of man? Can I somehow bring back even a trace of the goodness that was lost in the Garden of Eden?
In re-visiting Genesis I was reminded that the story of Eden is both deeply familiar and yet, unexpected. Like noticing a bright yellow house for the first time on my familiar drive home, as I studied Creation, I was prone to pause along the way and ask “has that always been there?” The answer is likely yes, but that it never seemed relevant until now.
In the beginning, God’s design for humankind was far richer and more relevant than I have often given Him credit for. Yes, the garden was beautiful, rich in resources, and supplied all human need. Adam and Eve were in community with one another and with God. This paints a beautiful picture but may fail to inspire any post-pandemic resolutions.
But, more applicably, there was human purpose. God, an eternal and infinitely powerful being, created Man and immediately gave him (and her) a job to do. A job, no doubt, God could have easily done himself. If you buy into the creation story (I do) – it seems that a God who had just spoken light into being certainly could have come up with names for the animals. But, he delegates the cultivation of the world to Adam and Eve. He gives them this mighty responsibility.
Revisiting Genesis has been a reminder that while I cannot take responsibility for all that has gone wrong since the beginning of time, I can, and should, take responsibility to change it. In fact, taking on this responsibility is part of God’s design.
Cultivating the earth, creating structure where it lacks, making things better – these tasks were always supposed to be part of our human experience. My travel, restaurant, and career bucket list? Not so much. But like eating, breathing, or sleeping, improving this temporary home of ours is intrinsically part of the human equation. And it was always meant to be.
With this in mind, my COVID resolution is to care for the world as if it were mine. To look up from my phone and get my hands dirty as if I had a divine responsibility to do so. To stop asking who made the mess and start cleaning it up.
After all, if the end of a once-in-a-lifetime-global-pandemic isn’t an excuse to try for the collective betterment of society, then – what is?
The world of course is bigger now. It’s more complicated and certainly more broken. With this comes a natural diffusion of responsibility that makes it harder to feel ownership over how our society is turning out.
And yet, Genesis seems to ring all the more relevant.
Because the stakes are higher now. The needs are greater. Now, more than ever, we must stop indulgently planning our future resumes, vacations, or Holiday card pictures (guilty on all three counts, your honor) and start paying attention to whether our society reflects something we’re proud of. Because, we’re not just responsible for ourselves. We are responsible for all of it – for all of us.
So, now it’s your turn. What will your COVID resolutions be?
If you’re not sure where to start, the answer is somewhere. We can’t all do everything, we must pick our causes. But let’s nip paralysis analysis in the bud before we find ourselves in the next global pandemic.
So, go out and cultivate. Start trying to fix things. Meet your local representatives and tell them what you care about. Donate your clothing and books. Volunteer at a nursing home and ask the patrons what they would do if they were your age. Pick up the trash on the sidewalk and be sure to recycle. Smile at strangers on the subway. Ask yourself “What would Jesus do?” and actually act accordingly. Care for the world and its members as if you have been commissioned by God to take care of things for a while. Because you have been – and time is ticking.
