In 1665, a plague closed Cambridge. The school sent students home to hunker down. Isaac Newton used that time to continue his education—learning on his own. Isolation, home-bound, shut down. It was during those days that he experimented with light, math equations and thinking about falling apples. He returned to Cambridge in 1667 with theories in hand and in notebooks, a bruise on his head and some thoughts about gravity.

I am enjoying, learning and finding motivation in this “plague” as I read Dr. Tim Elmore’s brand-new book, The Pandemic Population, (Growing Leaders, Inc., ©2020). “Eight Strategies to Help Generation Z Rediscover Hope After Coronavirus.”  Elmore says,

“I am so grateful Isaac Newton had some spare time. What will we do with ours?”

“The key is going to be how we choose to look at this whole thing. And…the narrative we embrace, of course, will be derived from our perspective. How do we even perceive what’s happening to us? Are we mere victims of a horrible time in history? Or could this be an opportunity for us to progress to a far better place? I pose the question, Is COVID-19 an interruption or an introduction to something better?” (Page 46)

“Narrative” is a hot word these days. The defining proverb about stress is, “It is how we explain things to ourselves—the stories we tell ourselves that determine whether the event is positive or negative.” It is not what happens, but how we explain the event to ourselves and others.

Dr. Tim Elmore continues,

“So, with all the negative outcomes we see from today’s coronavirus, what if we looked at it differently? (We) can get mad or (we) can get busy.

“Past epidemics may just show us how to get busy:”

• What if we let the adversity weed out what’s wrong and clarify what’s important?

• What if we let the adversity catalyze wise decisions to improve conditions?

• What if we let the adversity create an urgency about solving… problems?

We are not victims.

“But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.” Romans 8:37.

©2020 D. Dean Benton    Writer & Wonderer