As familiar routines return to our lives, perhaps we will see them with fresh eyes and approach them with a sense of gratitude and new sense of appreciation.
As familiar routines return to our lives, perhaps we will see them with fresh eyes and approach them with a sense of gratitude and new sense of appreciation.
Alexander Jewish Family Service Friends –
Over the weekend I heard from two friends about a very similar experience. Each friend had returned to in-person worship services for the first time since the pandemic began – one at her church and the other at her synagogue. I was struck by how similar their stories were. Each found new appreciation for the beauty of the sanctuary, each talked about how emotional it was to sit in the pew and touch the prayer book/hymnal and hold it in their hands and each friend described feeling the music of the service move them in a new and deeper way than had been possible while watching the services remotely and each spoke about the power of being together in community that felt so much more tangible by being able to be together in the same space – at the same time – with other congregants.
The French novelist Marcel Proust said:
“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.”
Each of these individuals, prior to the pandemic, had regularly attended services in person and had been in those spaces hundreds – if not thousands – of times. The time away, however, granted them the opportunity to rediscover the magic of those spaces and appreciate it again – to see if through new and fresh eyes as if for the first time.
As many of us are returning to activities that we have been away from for a long time, it is worth taking the time to appreciate the magic of everyday things like enjoying a meal together with friends, attending a life-cycle event in person, hugging those we care about and sitting together in community to pray.
Over time, these things will once again become routine. Perhaps one of the lessons of the last year is to try to remember how special these activities are and - in some way - to try to help them retain a piece of the wonder and magic as if we are experiencing them for the first time.
Chee Vai Tang reminds us that:
“If we all could see the world through the eyes of a child, we would see the magic in everything.”
As familiar routines return to our lives, perhaps we will see them with fresh eyes and approach them with a sense of gratitude and new sense of appreciation.
Best wishes,
Carl E. Josehart, MSW (he/him/his)
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