Finding a Better Way
There is a better path through disruption. A path that will require more of us and give more to us: more trust, more hope, more joy. In short, a path that will lead us out of the dark corner and into abundant life.
Life is fraught with disruptions. It is the reality of living outside of our original home of perfection, the Garden of Eden. Disruption is the result of sin and is our post-Garden, pre-heaven reality. But somehow in my thinking disruption was optional. Thus, I was so busy trying to fight against Disruption that I missed an essential truth. Disruption is not my real enemy. Disruption is simply the front guy, the entry point for the real enemy of my soul: Doubt. When Satan disrupted Eve with the offer of forbidden fruit, his goal wasn’t simply to get her evicted from the Garden. His goal was to infect her heart with Doubt. Specifically doubt in God’s goodness, but also doubt in her memory, doubt in her strength, doubt in her husband. Doubt is the enemy that continually attempts to poison our soul.
In my life, I have spent a lot of time scrutinizing disruptions, always seeking to assess blame. Sometimes I held myself responsible, sometimes others, sometimes God. But my goal was always to eliminate and prevent disruption. In doing so I was falling into the trap of doubt. . . . forgetting the fact that if God was all-knowing and all-powerful, He was allowing these disruptions into my life. Further, if God was all-loving, these disruptions held hidden value for me. I never considered the possibility that disruptions could simultaneously be hard and valuable, that Doubt was the real enemy that I should be fighting and in particular, doubt in the goodness and love of God.
God, in His creative and loving way, slipped a new pair of glasses on my eyes and one day, I had a new perspective. Doubt came into focus and Disruption became the backdrop. My new objective? To fight doubt and embrace faith.
This is infinitely easier to write than to live, but three practices have helped me tremendously.
1) Receive what is hard. Another way of saying this is to embrace the brokenness. As a fighter, this is very hard for me. If I acknowledge the emotions attached to each disruption, I worry about being sucked into an emotional whirlpool, never to emerge. But God is teaching me that these emotions are actually more like crashing waves than a whirlpool. They may engulf me, but eventually they subside and I surface. . . and survive. Most importantly, God is holding me when the waves crash. This practice is helping me live more honestly and courageously.
2) Remember what is true. Another way of saying this is to stand in truth. Disruptions expose the foundation of our life and test the strength of our supports. If emotions are like crashing waves, truth is like the support beams beneath us. Truth provides strength. It bears weight. It withstands. Honestly, some of my support beams have been proven unreliable (people will not lavish me with affirmation at every needed moment.) In fact, my most reliable support beam has been God. This practice has helped me focus on what God is saying to me rather than searching for a pep rally from friends and family.
3) Reclaim what is good. In other words, embrace hope. Disruptions cloud our vision and cast a shadow over our lives. We can lose our way in the darkness. But even in the hurricane of disruption, there is good. I am trying to look for the hidden gifts beneath disruption. Where can I see beauty in upheaval? Where does God provide comfort? Where do I see the faintest outline of redemption? How is God breathing hope into my heart in the face of disruption? This is not naivete or blind optimism. This is more like digging for diamonds in a dark cavern. This is how we find hope and emerge with our hearts intact.
I wish that insight or a new pair of glasses was enough to change our lives! But there is more to say about how to put these practices to work, how to live a better way in the underbelly of life. And that is what you can expect to read more about on this blog! This is a journey done best in the company of friends. Will you join me?
