Windshield

By Pastor Paul Gauche

Today’s Word: ‘Windshield’ as in… there’s a reason the windshield is bigger than the rearview mirror. You already know where you’ve been. To get where you’re going, you’ll need to focus forward with intention and purpose.

“What has the pandemic taught you?”

This is one of the most important and frequently asked questions of the past year. It’s been discussed in large and small groups, around dinner tables, in therapy and counselling settings, and on countless Zoom calls. Naturally, there are other versions: “How are you coping?” “What’s been most challenging?” “How’s your mental health?” “Dairy Queen? Again?” All important questions, each one deserving careful time, attention, and grace.

But there is an important shift taking place in many of our conversations. I noticed it beginning mid-to-late-January. And it picked up steam as the rate and pace of vaccinations began to do the same.

In our quest to understand ourselves in a pandemic, we shifted the trajectory of our questions from looking backward into the metaphorical and much smaller rearview mirror to asking questions that had us looking forward, as through a much larger windshield. Shifting our focus from the past toward the future created a new question:

“Between now and the end of the year, what will you live into with intention and purpose?”

Moving into our future together will be challenging. While the impact of the pandemic has been a global experience, our continued response will be a very local and personal experience. The particular ways that we interact, listen to, and care for each other are as unique as each of us. That is why each of us must be clear about the windshield question. Between now and the end of the year, what one thing will you live into with focused attention?

To answer this one big important question we can certainly refer to the rearview mirror. Looking back is instructive. But clearly, most of our attention will be looking ahead, out through the big, beautiful windshield.

You already know where you’ve been. To get where you’re going, you’ll need to focus forward with intention and purpose.

#100days50words

Paul Gauche is the Pastor of Life Transitions at Prince of Peace. His posts are part of his #100days50words project, where be blogs about a different word each day. You can follow his project on Instagram (@pgauche), or on his blog, Thriving Rhythms.