“Dear Heavenly Father, I will take care of you, you please take care of corona….” was an adorable statement made by my 4year old nephew during his prayer. “Dear Heavenly Father, please protect all the wildlife ....” was a humble prayer made by my 10-year-old son. I admired his innocent, heart to heart communication with our Father in Heaven!!
Trying to raise a kid to follow Christ is similar to navigating in a rural area with no maps, GPS or street signs, the doctrines of our church are the spiritual road markers. During this Eastertide general conference, when our prophet asked us to ponder about, “How have we grown? What have we learnt during this pandemic?” 1, my spirit soared with gratitude. This life behind the mask changed my life profoundly; it made me savour the moments with my family.
My life though fruitful and productive was always swamped with work. I hadn’t slowed down to reconnect with the people and things that matter most. As the saying goes, there is a bright side for every dark thing, so is the case with Covid too, it helped me turn my lenses from the outside world to capture wonderful moments and memories of my own family, extended family and friends.
I and my husband enmeshed and connected after recalibrating the way we lived. There was a subtle way of telling us that we are there for each other. Cooking and cleaning acquired new status at home. This lockdown also helped me to turn off my auto-pilot mode of parenting and see life with my son from a fresh perspective. From rustling up a meal to fixing Lego, there were a lot of things that we enjoyed wearing the game face on.
My mom, my cheerleader, with silver in her hair and gold in her heart turned out to be a millennial mom, experimenting with many mobile apps along with me. Apart from sharing a similar chromosome, it was awesome to share the whimsical “Sib life” again with my brother. It was also good to navigate and see the “attachment theory” work between me and my in-laws…it took our relationship to a new high. Many WhatsApp family groups made me reminiscence stories from earlier times and rejuvenate my relationships with my extended family members. It was also easy to foster the friendships that I valued.
It’s no wonder that I was able to reprogram my energies to focus on simple pleasures. My home turned to be a place of magic and I know that this period will occupy more data in the hard disk of my heart. I know families are eternal and I am very grateful to my Father in Heaven for blessing me with a wonderful family.
Note
1 President Russell M. Nelson, “What We Are Learning and Will Never Forget,” April 2021 General Conference.
