Re-Packaging Covid-19

In his commencement speech given at the University of Stanford, Steve Jobs shared,

"You can’t connect the dots looking forward. You can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future."

Who knows how the dot we've come to know as Covid-19 will connect in our future?

Who knows how it will wrap itself into the narrative and story of our lives?

Who knows why this is happening, at such an inopportune time for so many (is there ever an opportune time for adversity?)...

Or why this is causing such devastation around the world?

If there's any certainty in today's climate, it's the uncertainty of what the next day will bring.

I think it's important to draw wisdom and understanding from that which has sustained it all—wars, plagues, natural disasters, terrorist attacks and a multitude of other travesties—that being nature and humanity.

As with anything that is sustaining in life (warm and cold, night and day, winter and summer, inhale and exhale, good and bad, heaven and hell), harmony is often found in the balance of two extremes.

I think it's crucial that we counter the uncertainty in our external climate with certainty in our internal.

There are three pillars of our existence that are largely, if not completely, unaffected by the current crisis.

Our faith, our health and our relationships.

(Not) Coincidentally, these are also the three pillars that serve as the foundation of our lives, and that everything else in our lives rest upon.

While we may not know what tomorrow will bring, we do know that today is here, and with it, we have the opportunity to strengthen our foundation.

In these uncertain times, I pray that we find the wisdom, the strength and the resilience to focus on today and do the best we can with that which we have.

Assuming we do, I think we'll look back on these days with wonder and appreciation for the impact these dots had on the unfolding story of our lives.

(The seed of a blessing is often times wrapped in the shell of adversity. Find the blessing.)