Praying For 2020 Vision Changed the World

This Sunday my sister and I were having our normal Sunday evening phone conversation with my niece and nephew vying for attention in the background. We shared our normal jokes and exchange of news; however, from no where she said something profound.

My sister slyly joked, “Look what all this praying for 20/20 vision did to the world.” I sat with my phone to my ear ready to drop it in shock. All these images came flashing through my mind and similar to Raven Baxter having a vision, I felt a blogpost coming on.

You see, by November 2019, every pastor, every Creative, every celebrity, every motivational speaker, every influencer, even your mama & “dem” were tweeting, texting, and talking about 20/20 vision.

“20/20 Vision” was a cutesy phrase about how in 2020, a brand new decade, we would all have clarity about what our path would be for the rest of our lives. It was fun, it was optimistic and many people start getting excited.

By New Year’s Eve 2019, nearly every church congregation was on their knees praying in succession, pleading with God for 20/20 Vision and a decade of clarity. Then BOOM! The year 2020 came and the world exploded.

COVID-19 came around and suddenly schools were shutting down, workplaces were closing, people were fighting over toilet paper, hand sanitizer, Lysol, and hoarding food. Grocery shelves were empty, people were unemployed, kids were at home running amuck, husbands were home beating wives, wives were home beating husbands, the president was acting a damned fool on national television, people were penniless and hungry, and bodies were piling up along the streets in makeshift mortuaries.

Then to add insult to injury, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and George Floyd lay bleeding and dying at the hands of white men. Meanwhile, “Karens” (bitter white women) were on the phone lying to 9-1-1 on black people for simply breathing.

How is this 2020 vision? How is this clarity? Surely, God laughed at our prayers and sent plagues in their places.

Not at all! God genuinely answered our prayers and now we see exactly what life is and who people are. God removed the scales from our eyes and between quarantine, unemployment, and racism, we have all learned many hard lessons.

Below is a categorized list of things you might have learned through the REAL 20/20 vision God has given us:

Lessons About Home, Hearth, and Family

– You have too much junk– While quaranting at home, you now see that you have accumulated an excessive amount of junk. You need to throw it away and stop spending excessively.

– You don’t know your kids– That’s right, the daycares are closed, schools are closed. The babysitter can’t come over while you party on the weekend. Now you are actually responsible for doing more than feeding your kids dinner and putting them to bed.

Quarantine has taught you that you know nothing about the little people that you and your lover created, and suffered through a pregnancy and birth for. Now is the time to learn who your children are as people and personalities. You might even have some apologizing to do for constantly leaving their care to others.

-Your kids are poor students– You are home with the kids and realize they can’t read at grade level. Their writing and spelling isn’t up to par and your kids are struggling students. Underpaid teachers are not primarily responsible for your children’s education.

Your children might be struggling, because you aren’t doing supplemental learning with them at home. Your children could struggle intellectually for the rest of their lives unless you step in and intervene.

-Your house is a mess– You are at home in quarantine and you realize that you have spent a great deal of money on your cars and clothes to impress the public; however, your private house is a disaster! It’s dirty, disorganized and in great need of home improvements.

Your home should be your sanctuary where you and your family relax and draw peace from. Now is the time to clean-up and get things together.

You don’t know your spouse– He works, She work, and you both have become ships passing by night. Now that you are home together, it is time to fight for your marriage and learn the people you have now become.

You’re married to the wrong person– It’s not just that he/she doesn’t close the cap on the toothpaste. The person you married is physically or verbally abusive. He/she is molesting the kids. He or she dislikes you and will not spend time with the family. He or she is financial abusing you. He or she is compulsively cheating. If any of these things are true, it’s time to divorce and create a new vision for you and your children.

Time to move out– You’re an adult child stuck at home because of financial reasons. Before quarantine you didn’t have to spend much time at home so it never really affected you. Now you are home often and your parents aren’t being pleasant.

They are limiting your views about yourself and your future. They are making subtle suggestions that you leave. You can’t totally be yourself at home. You are unhappy and feel your growth is hindered. Guess what my Love, it’s time to save a little more, maybe get a roommate to help with expenses, and move out.

Work and Finance

Your job is wrong for you– Your job isn’t offering benefits. You aren’t getting paid time-off for being sick. You aren’t getting paid enough to survive. Your job doesn’t care about your health and safety. Your white boss is showing his/her true colors lately and is starting to tell racist jokes. Your work feels unfulfilling and you don’t have opportunities to grow in the workplace. If these things are happening, your 20/20 vision as been revealed. Time to more on and enter into your true calling.

You haven’t saved enough money– You have no idea you’d every have to face unemployment because of an international disease, so you gladly lived paycheck to paycheck. Now your job is stalled and you don’t know where your next meal will come from. Now, Is the time to make better decisions regarding money- a vision you might not have had before.

Spirituality

-You have no idea how to worship alone– The church doors are closed and you have no idea how to reach God alone. You are use to the pastor praying for you and preaching to you. Left to your own devices, you have no clue on how to reach God. Your 20/20 vision and homework is developing your own personal relationship with God.

Friendships

Fake Friends/ Romantic Partners– Without the glue of partying together every weekend, your friends are not really communicating often. You might have been diagnosed with COVID-19 and your friends didn’t text or call to see if you are doing ok. You might be an essential worker and your friend who gets to work from home doesn’t really care about your risk of being exposed to disease daily. You live alone and call your friend for company and they refuse to hold a conversation without reason.

When you talk about the Black Lives Matter Movement your friends get angry and start the All Lives Matter conversation. Your 20/20 vision has been clearly revealed, these are not your friends.

Social Media Friends– You have been cool on social media for years with an old co-worker, friend from high school, or even a totally stranger. You post in support of the BLM protests, and share pictures of George Floyd, and links to places individuals can donate to help Breonna Taylor’s family. Upon doing so your social media friends post nasty comments with racist tones under your posts. Your 20/20 vision? DELETE/ UNFRIEND.

Business

Stop Supporting Businesses– You LOVE a locate coffee shop and pick up a latte every morning before work. The workers know your name and order. The staff is friendly the service is quick. However, one night on Facebook you see the shop’s owner post a racist rant about Black people. Now you have clarity about what this business really feels about you or the people you support. What do you do? Hit them in the pockets. No longer support the business with your $29.50 a week.

Politics

Plain and Simple– NEVER vote for or support a politician who has shown any lack of competence, leadership or basic human compassion during this terrible time in history.

The Breakdown

This blogpost shows that though our 2020 vision has been hard earned, every aspect of our lives have been made clear. Prayer indeed changes things and we all have been blessed with clarity about everything in our lives- from friendships to business.

God has gifted us with spiritual glasses and just like that, we have a much clearer perspective about how to move on in the future with our lives.

Bishop T.D Jakes stated in a recent online Bible study titled Redemptive Recognition that one of Jesus’s most preformed miracles was giving sight to the blind. Jesus gifted so many individuals with sight because above all things, he wanted people to be able to see clearly.

God has given us the 20/20 clarity that we begged for- now what are we going to do with it?