Speaking Truth About Disruption
Large or little, there are certain common truths that every disruption shares. We have to be honest about what we are up against if we really want to change.
Every disruption involves change.
Life as we know it shifts. Our best-laid plans are interrupted. Our goals are thwarted. Very few of us can nail the month that we will deliver a baby . . . and none of us can pre-program that baby with a non-disruptive disposition. The only constant in my life is change.
Disruption, at some level, is unavoidable.
It is as valid as any law of nature. Into every human life, disruption will come. Our plans, our routines, our relationships will all be interrupted, usually on a daily basis. Our choices can propel us away from certain disruptions. Pay your electricity bill on time and your home will not be disrupted by a blackout. Pursue your education and you are less likely to be disrupted by unemployment. But no amount of personal growth, healthy living, detailed planning or commitment can eliminate the disruptions from life. No one gets a disruption-free life.
The fact of disruption is played out for us on the expansive stage of our world. Mountains have been formed by earthquakes, canyons have been carved by rivers, forests have been supplanted by plains. In fact, our daily cycle could be described as one extended disruption: the sun disrupting the moon and the moon responding in like.
Every disruption shapes us.
Like waves crashing on a rocky coast, Disruption molds us. A life of disruption will have its impact on all of us. We can’t erase Disruption from our life, but we can determine how we will engage it. And how we engage will largely determine how we emerge.
Every disruption requires choice.
Life has diverged from our intended path. What will we do with Disruption? Will we fight or will we surrender? We may pull out the strategy of resourcefulness (aka demandingness) or submission (aka despair). Either way we are participating. We are choosing a weapon that will have a partial impact on Disruption, but an even greater impact on us.
Disruption is disruptive.
My observation is that Disruption knocks the majority of us off our feet, threatening to take each of us out of the game of life. A difficult disruption or a series of disruptions can so flood your life with pain that retreating to a dark corner seems like the most logical course of action. Numbing the pain becomes your number one goal. Living small and safe is a close second.
I don’t want to live in that dark corner. I don’t want my heart to shrivel like a raisin. I want to find another strategy that goes beyond endlessly fighting or succumbing to Disruption.
And here is where another truth is spoken. A truth that lights a bit of hope in my heart:
“When the righteous cry for help,
The LORD hears and delivers them out of all their troubles.
The LORD is near to the broken-hearted and saves the crushed in spirit.
Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all.
Psalm 34:17-19
We are not alone and we are not the only responder. If Disruption is not our real enemy, then Peace is not our real friend. We have a Deliverer and if we are attentive then He will show us a better way to navigate life’s unexpected. The key is being attentive. . . .
