I think I read somewhere once that people can typically name 10 Defining Moments in their lives.

That sounds right.

Like there was a time before my husband got clean and sober and I was married to active addiction…and now there’s an after.

Or there was a time before I held my first brand-new baby to my bare chest and I forever became a mother…and now there’s an after.

So here we ALL are.

We are standing right in the middle of one of those times.

A Defining Moment.

There was a time before 2020…and now there’s an after.

My God, it hurts. Doesn’t it??

I know.

Every single time I’ve been caught in the middle of a Defining Moment it hurt like HELL.

It stretched and shaped me.

It nearly broke me.

But damn if I didn’t come out a little more myself on the other side!

A little truer.

A little more honest.

A little more real.

A little closer to being…ME.

Like layers of an onion peeling back.

Layer after layer after layer after layer.

Burned, blistered skin becoming fresh, pink, and new.

I’m sure this time there will be a scar, too.

Just like every time before.

But I’m praying TOGETHER we can find a new way to heal.

A little truer.

A little more honest.

A little more real.

A little closer to becoming the nation we LONG to be.

We’ll look back years from now and say there was a time before 2020…and now there’s an after.

We have never been the same.

So, the question is…how will 2020 define me?

How will it define you??