COVID-19: Lessons Learned

We learn most deeply and our character is shaped most profoundly through difficulty. While distance is needed to fully realize this hard truth, I wonder what we are learning individually and as a community during the COVID-19 global pandemic. 

In reflection, I am reminded of James' challenging encouragement to "consider it pure joy ... whenever you face trials of many kinds" as this leads to perseverance (James 1:2-3). Paul also reiterates this in Romans when he uses a gradatio (or marching figure) to emphasize the growth in character that suffering facilitates: "suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope" (Romans 5:3-4). I am also reminded of Ben Franklin's quip: "What hurts, instructs."

When specific suffering happens to an individual, the lesson learned is often limited to that person and those directly observing the phenomenon. However, the life of a community often continues unaffected. For example, a death of a parent deeply impacts the children and the immediate family, but after the funeral, the extended community continues as before the tragedy. However, when suffering happens on a larger scale, to a local or global community, the lessons learned can impact and reshape both individuals and a community. For example, the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001, impacted both individuals and altered how we operate as a society.

The COVID-19 pandemic will impact individuals and our global society. We will learn so many lessons through this time; here are a few that come to mind.

1. Loving

The first lesson, for both individuals and our community, is a sacrificial (albeit sometimes forced) other-centrism, an actively loving of our neighbors. We are asked/required by our national and local leaders to sacrifice individual/societal freedoms and financial health to benefit others. This includes mandates on social distancing, isolation, and protective gear, but also includes shuttering businesses ... all to "flatten the curve" and protect others. Yes, we are also protecting ourselves, but the primary purpose is to protect others.

This is unusual and unprecedented. In previous outbreaks, the sick or at-risk are quarantined while the healthy continue life as normal. During this pandemic, the healthy are asked to self-quarantine to protect those who are at-risk. It is an active love of neighbor to sacrifice your own freedoms to protect others (even if much of this is forced).

"Good News" examples of individuals actively loving their neighbors is also occurring within our communities: neighbors are offering to get groceries for the elderly, families are writing messages of hope with sidewalk chalk, and individuals are donating money to help the un- or under-employed. Through the suffering of the pandemic, many individuals are setting aside their selfishness and are sacrificing for others.

We live in an ego-centric, selfish society that is so entirely counter to Christ's second greatest commandment to "love your neighbor as yourself" (Mt. 22:39). What an important individual and communal lesson to learn! It is my prayer that we, as individuals and as a nation, will hold on to the lesson of actively loving our neighbors after the pandemic is over, even when it means self-sacrifice.

2. Pivoting 

An important life lesson that is being "taught" to everyone during this pandemic is the need to adjust to external factors in order to flourish. While many students are learning this lesson (especially on this scale) for the first time, this is a lesson that most adults have already been taught (not necessarily learned) in the workplace.

In order to thrive in this world, individuals must be able to pivot ... adapt, adjust, and finish well. When faced with an external challenge that is beyond one's control, everyone has a choice: he/she can quit and give up or figure out a way around the obstacle and finish the project. Although not on the scale of a global pandemic, there are a plethora of examples: a new supervisor changes the direction of a project, a company consolidation/down-sizing eliminates a position, or a revenue stream dries up. In each of these examples, individuals and companies (if they want to survive) need to adjust, adapt, and innovate through this change. Unfortunately, many individuals and organizations have not learned this lesson and an external crisis ruins them.

Hopefully, students (especially) learn this lesson for their future. This pandemic would ideally lead to a generation of innovators and intrapreneurs who are able to adapt quickly and effectively to change. Our dynamic and quickly changing world needs this more than ever.  Through this pandemic "crucible," educators are already seeing those students who have both struggled and flourished. Current students who learn this lesson well during this time will be the future leaders of culture and industry.

3. Persevering

One of the criticisms of the Millennial and Z generations is their lack of perseverance and grit. While they (stereo-typically) are passionate, that fire quickly dies out in the face of adversity. Returning to scripture, both James and Paul (in Romans) state that suffering produces perseverance. God knows how important perseverance is because He also knows how hard living in a broken world can be; thus, He uses suffering (even the COVID-19) to build in us the characteristic of grit.

Scripture is supported by research as perseverance (aka grit) has been the topic of recent sociological studies (Duckworth, et al. 2007) and connecting this characteristic to flourishing as a human being (Duckworth, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, 2016). Essentially, individuals with grit flourish in our world.

We see this lesson in the educational sphere during this time. We often point to students who need to grow in grit, but a full spectrum of gritty-ness can be seen at the institutional and educator level. Some schools and teachers have essentially shut down learning in the midst of this crisis while others have persevered and even flourished. This, of course, trickles down to the students and the lessons that they are learning (or not learning) during this time. If you are in a school (like I am) that embodies perseverance, count yourself blessed ... you and your students are learning an important, God-ordained lesson during this time.

God wants us to persevere through suffering and to grow in our gritty-ness through this crisis. As a human, I don't like this tactic that God uses to grow me, but I know He is preparing me for future situations as I live in the "already but not yet" time awaiting Christ's return.


We are all learning a ton of lessons during this time; it is my hope that we come out the other side of this pandemic much improved, as individuals and as a society. That we learn to love, pivot, and persevere to flourish in tomorrow's world.

Stay tuned for more lessons as this pandemic continues.