All I wanted was some avocado with my eggs.

It was a dreary day at the end of January 2020 (but honestly, what day in 2020 hasn’t seemed dreary??) when my life got turned upside down. I had been diagnosed with a sinus infection the previous day and needed to take my medicine with breakfast. So I started to prepare a healthy and decently hearty breakfast of eggs over-medium with sliced avocado.

In the midst of talking to my toddler son as he finished up his oatmeal, I realized our normal “avocado knife” was dirty, so I made the SAFE decision to use a butter knife to cut and de-pit the avocado. As I tried to take out the pit with said safe butter knife…

Well, let’s just say I found myself in the Emergency Room 20 minutes later with cut tendons in my left ring finger.

A couple of things I realized that morning:

Ikea butter knives are surprisingly sharp.
My son picked up the phrase “butter knife” really quickly.
It was good I didn’t make any New Years’ resolutions this year. Because 2020 was not going according to plan. (Little did I know.)

After surgery to reconstruct the inner-wirings of my ring finger, I’ve spent over two months in a brace with constant therapy to help rebuild the strength and mobility of my finger.

It’s been humbling.

To not be able to button my skinny jeans. To struggle to hold my children or change diapers. To need to ask for help in opening water bottles and packages and - well just about anything that needs to be opened.

But it has also taught me a lot.

I am now extremely thankful for the agency my body normally has. And I’m forever grateful to those who have stepped in to help my family during these months (Like you, Grace and Parminder) because we are better together (I wrote more about that thought here.)

And one of the most important lessons I’ve learned from suffering from “Avocado Hand” (yes, there is terminology for fools like me) is this:

Healing is about producing a new normal, not rewinding the clock.

The healing of pain does not reverse time. Rather, our scars are evidence that we are living into a different story - a new normal.

Now, this obviously applies beyond a millennial’s avocado injury.

You’ve experienced all sorts of pain in your life. Both the pain you brought upon yourself and the pain inflicted on you. Regardless of its origins, pain is terrible. It’s antithetical to what God’s original plan was for our lives.

And our pain does NOT have to define us.

For me, my finger will never look or function exactly the same way again. But the healing process I’m going through right now will dictate what my motor functions will look like for the rest of my life.

Our past does not have to define us, how we move forward will.

And here’s the thing, we are now moving into a new normal as a globe.

We currently find ourselves in the midst of what will most likely be one of the hardest months of our collective lives due to the scourge of COVID-19. Each of us is going through the loss of health, lives, and livelihoods in our lives personally, in our loved one’s lives, and in our communities.

All of us are bearing the burden of this pandemic.

And it’s painful.

The ripple effects of this coronavirus are far-reaching as our lives have all ground to a halt:

Schooling, weddings, funerals, and church have all gone online.
Concerts, sports, fundraisers, and conferences have all been canceled.
Graduations, internships, trips, and reunions have all been put on hold.
Lives, jobs, businesses, and futures have all been lost.

But here’s the thing, things won’t go back to ‘normal’ after the warm weather or vaccine arrives. We can’t go back. We, collectively as citizens of 2020, are moving into a new normal.

This time will lead us into a future we are just beginning to imagine. From church and academics to politics and relationships, our lives will forever bear the effects of this tragic time.

In the words of Arundhati Roy:

"Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine their world anew. This one is no different. It is a portal, a gateway between one world and the next. We can choose to walk through it, dragging the carcasses of our prejudice and hatred, our avarice, our data banks and dead ideas, our dead rivers and smoky skies behind us. Or we can walk through lightly, with little luggage, ready to imagine another world. And ready to fight for it."

The question is, how will we heal from this?

As I wrestle with the pain and isolation that this epidemic is inflicting on all of us, I have been left sleepless the last several nights searching for hope and healing in the midst of so much brokenness and chaos.

And I am finding that hope in the events that we remember this week as Christians. Those of us who follow Jesus of Nazareth will spend this week remembering the last days of Jesus before his crucifixion - leading up to His unexpected resurrection on Easter Sunday.

Reflecting on the power and Good News of Easter, I am reminded of a few truths that may encourage and challenge you as well:

We serve a God who went through pain. We do not serve a God who cannot relate to our tragedies and trauma, rather we have a God who literally got on our level and can empathize with our feelings and pain.
The Good News of Easter came through the darkness of the cross. We have the hope of new life through Jesus because He embraced the pain and sacrifice of crucifixion.
Pain is not the end of the story.

The surprising good news of Easter is that death, pain, and darkness do not have the final word. Even when everything seems lost, God is on the move - in the pain. He does not work around it or avoiding it, but - just like Jesus - by dwelling in it with us.

Yes, God is with us during this time of COVID-19 and He will never abandon us in our pain. Not now or at any other point in our lives.

And our hope this Easter 2020 is that our God who knows pain also knows us. He knows us completely and loves us totally.

And God always provides healing.

ALWAYS.

And that healing started on the cross with a beaten, bloodied Messiah and became a realized truth when He resurrected as both victorious and healed.

For all of God’s creation, that was the day we all were invited into a new normal - a new creation that Jesus called the Kingdom of God.

A Kingdom that brings about healing for all who step into it. And it is a Kingdom that is still on the move today and inviting people into healing.

Healing from COVID-19 and its effects.

Healing from physical pain (even avocado hand).

Healing from all forms of abuse.

Healing from psychological, emotional, and mental pain.

Healing from relationships that have ended - and the ones that need to end.

Healing from your past decisions.

Healing from the past decisions of others.

Healing which brings resurrection and restoration.

This Easter, may you accept healing for whatever the pain is in your life. My hope is that you can remember the Good News of the empty tomb and embrace the healing of the bloodied cross as you journey through a really difficult 2020.

In so many ways, we are moving into a new normal in life. The hope for healing in this new normal is for each of us to embrace the new life offered by God, each and every day.

And being a loved daughter or son of God is exactly where we need to be in 2020.

May you remember: Healing is about producing a new normal, not rewinding the clock.

Welcome to the new normal.