Many situations in life bring joy: the birth of a new baby, the birth of a grandchild, finding love, beautiful adventures, a surprise party, an unexpected gift, holidays of a lifetime, weddings, birthdays and such other memorable events – the list is endless.

There are also some situations forced on us which bring little or no joy and we simply have to endure them. Such situations often leave us with absolutely no control over them. As human beings, we love to be in control of our lives, to be able to make our life choices, exercise our freewill as we like, based on our desires. Unfortunately this is not always the case.

I guess none of us would have willingly opened our doors to coronavirus exactly one year ago this month. COVID-19 simply intruded on us, barging into our world without any prior notice nor was our permission obtained, in December 2019. And ever since, it has been one long year, three hundred and sixty five days of agony, headaches and feelings of helplessness. The “uninvited guest” even had the audacity in recent times to move its wardrobe into our domain, changing outfits at will as if it were saying to us – “I am throwing a big party on you all”.

Coronavirus is still covid-19 whatever garment it chooses to put on, let us beware. Keeping all the rules of social distancing, face coverings, hand washing and other respiratory hygiene rules are certainly to our best advantage.

Anyone impressed by covid-19 mutations?
No one I believe! I, certainly am not.

I can almost hear our hearts racing, our thoughts pacing — Is this going to be the norm in 2021?

December 2019 – December 2020 has been one long bad dream-certainly a nightmare.
We have experienced several emotions – ranging from anxiety, extreme sorrow at times, helplessness and sometimes release and/or relief.

Standing at the threshold of 2021, can we dare to make it a new beginning? With the pandemic still much with us, how do we navigate the curve?

These thoughts and more have filled my contemplations in the past couple of weeks; more intensely in the last few days, certainly.

In a nightmarish situation, how can we latch on to something new? Where do we find the springboard for a new beginning?

In clear terms, what is there to grab? Or, where can you and I find something real or tangible to hold on to?

My thoughts grew wings, flew far away, and wide. In my dream I visited the “Throne of Mercy” and I have come back with a renewed dream. A dream of hope and a brighter future; of a new beginning regardless of the pandemic.

How can we achieve this?

Kindly grant me permission to attempt to articulate this experience so that friends may grasp my message.

This dream delivers a fresh renewal, a rebirth, a regeneration … a hope and a masterplan. A renewal which only my believing can deliver, a fresh hope that the future is what I am prepared to make of it, and a masterplan that everything will ultimately work out for my good – both the good, the bad and the ugly, because I have been to the throne of mercy where I have received new windows from where I should now look-into my future.

Friends, let me also expose us more to this new window overlooking a fresh and lustrous garden of gratitude, healthy positive believing, hope and a plan for the foreseeable future.

If we will take up this invitation and begin to look ahead into 2021 from this window, we would have started a move from the nightmare, and begun dreaming our way into a new beginning in 2021.

Let us dream our way into a brand new year, not a continuation of 2020; covid or no covid.

Let us make the memories of happy and joyous moments of the past the springboard from which we gain our freedom and strength to dream away into a new future. And as we give ourselves the liberty to dream, let us again begin to dream big and of brighter days ahead. To back our dreams up, let us remember to begin to make solid, but adaptable plans for the future we can foresee in our dream.

Let hopes arise, let new hopes be birthed in these dreams.

Can I assure us that as we engage our time and efforts in this fashion, positive emotions will again begin to fill our minds at the same time.

This is what I mean by dreaming our way through a nightmare.

Therefore as we prepare to kiss the nightmarish year 2020 goodbye, let us decide today to open up our minds to positive and productive dreams.. allowing fresh hopes for a better and brighter 2021 to flow in.

Let us envision a 2021 witnessing the death of the coronavirus so that we all can live our lives more fully as before.

And may G-d answer our prayers speedily, establishing our dreams and giving us a fresh new beginning in the year 2021, each and everyone. Amen

Wishing us all a sweet new year.

Until next time

I remain
Yours truly
Annie.