A couple of days ago, I reached out to a couple of parents and asked them to help with a blog idea. The idea would be for parents to write a letter to the students. My thought was that it would be good for all of us to hear how a couple of parents are responding to our current events. What I wasn’t prepared for was the response from the parents that participated. One parent responded with “Thanks for asking me to do this! It actually helped bring a lot of healing to my heart as well.”
Below is the final of three “letters to seniors from parents” that we will share. Feel free to take the time to read these blogs from other experienced parents. Glean from their “voices” some advice and peace. Then, maybe, write one of your own. Perhaps this is a way for you to process the healing that your heart needs as well.
– Krista
Dear IWU Family,
In a matter of weeks, we have gone from praying for China to our world being turned upside down. As a parent this is hard, as a student this is hard, and there are so many things about this that feel unfair!
We’ve all been affected by COVID-19, and we cannot ignore how the class of 2020 has been robbed of all the long-awaited college ‘lasts.’ Parents, students, faculty, staff, and administrators are all struggling with how to react and what to feel. We are all trying to make the best of this! We are all doing our part as best we can to slow the spread and flatten the curve. There’s no playbook for us to follow and there’s no perfect solution to fix things, so what do we do? We cry, get angry, reach out to others, talk on the phone, try to stay positive, keep learning, clean and disinfect better than we usually do, check on our elders, try a new recipe, read a good book, play a board game, work on a puzzle, sleep in, binge watch a show, exercise, get crafty, reflect on what’s important, wash our hands, and pray.
This is an awakening and time of uniting like no other. We are all usually so busy in this world and feel like we rarely have quiet moments to listen to each other or even God. We need to stop and look up!
This is a challenging time for everyone, and it’s okay to be sad. However, seniors, missing all the ‘lasts’ does not diminish your accomplishments! We are so proud of all your hard work and nothing will take that away. We are still a community of people with so much to be grateful for and so much to be excited about! Seniors, you will do great things, you will be a light in the darkness, and you will be a class that’s united like this century has never seen before! 2020 and COVID-19 will go down in history, but what will they say about us? Our response and the changes we make going forward will tell our story.
So, as we wait for life to ramp back up, listen to God. Many things are uncertain; you’re waiting on job applications or trying to figure out what’s next in your adventure. It will all work out and His plans will be better than you could have ever imagined. God is bigger than all of our traditions that are put on hold. God is in the quiet spaces to listen to our cries and calm our hearts. God will use this time for His Glory and for our good!
Above everything, we must remember that God is still good.
We love you, Class of 2020!
