With free-falls on the stock market and American families shifting into financial lockdown, an incredible understanding may emerge from this economic thunderstorm.
It's not a matter of who is at fault or where we can dump our rage about greedy CEOs, predatory banks, inept politicians, and careless homeowners. The profound impact of this crisis is that it may actually swing open the doors to a second chance.
We are being awarded a "do-over" as we plunge to depths of financial problems we could have never imagined. A "reset" button has been pushed, and from the bottom we can build again. We can recover our sense of purpose and shift our cultural diet from the celebrity-weirdness galaxy. We can encourage innovation in areas such as energy, housing, and education. We can honor steadfastness of character and celebrate simplicity of living.
When we embrace a second chance, our empathy heightens because everyone experiences loss. Poverty is real and within reach instead of being viewed as an isolated problem facing "those people" who troll downtown streets or who cram their families into battered motels because they can't afford an apartment or a house.
Excessive luxuries don't matter as much when we retrench. Clarity becomes an essential nutrient for life. We reexamine purpose and summon our desire to survive. And if there is emotional health, we also manage relationships with care so as not to let them become the brunt of our fears.
As we struggle to pay food bills, battle fear as home values drop, stretch dwindling take-home pay, worry that our business can't make payroll, moan day-care costs, and mourn blasted retirement savings, we can discover newfound resilience. The financial bedlam, the turbulent valley, incredibly become huge doors of hope.
Judy Howard Ellis
Link to Hosea 2:14,15 courtesy of studylight.org
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