It’s been a year since we all had to step back, change, adapting to a “new normal”. This term has grown a little tired, hasn’t it?
In business we found efficiencies. We discovered that all of that office space were paying for and the time we were losing in a daily commute may not have been as necessary as we thought.
We have found that many positions and people can actually function better outside of an office environment. Meetings can be conducted via Zoom requiring less travel and time away from our families. We save money. We save time. On the surface this works.
We discovered that we could go to church in our pajamas avoiding the fight of getting the kids out the door on time or possibly even waking them up at all on a Sunday morning.
“Let them sleep in.” is probably a pretty common phrase on Sunday mornings now.
While life may have become harder for many it also became simpler and that’s better, right?
This is a cautionary tale.
A very wise man told me early on that while his organization was “getting things done” we were losing some things in the process. The statement rang true. I knew immediately he was right.
Creativity. Connectivity.
Something happens when you get people in a room to discuss or hear something important, when all are in “one mind and one accord”.
Whether it is a church service or a business meeting we have been wired by our Creator to be together and while a Zoom meeting will suffice it’s a Band-aid at best.
Online church is necessary for some to protect the most vulnerable and it does allow those who cannot physically attend an opportunity to connect for most of us it is not optimal.
But it is easy. I just can’t seem to find a lot of “easy” in the realm of “good”.
I am not a doctor and even if I were I would still be unwilling to tell others how to operate now. We must all decide how we will move forward based on our best judgement but to accept that “this is just the way things are now” is dangerous.
We need each other. We need hugs. My aunt Rita Davenport always said that we need at least three hugs a day to “stay normal”. I need handshakes and direct eye contact. I desire your full attention and commitment to being present. I need these things and I am unwilling to give them up, yet.
Not yet.
Kevin Anderson, General Manager of Salem Nashville
