Few dispute these are tumultuous times. It seems everything and everyone is in an uproar over something, or over many things. If it isn’t fires or plane crashes or train crashes or hurricanes striking from the coast, it’s hurricanes striking from Wall Street or Washington.
It’s hard to keep your peace, to see the beauty in anything, when there’s so much turbulence and upset all around us. Of course, it impacts us internally as well. As singular individuals, we do what we can to make things better. Yet often we look outward for ways to do that, when first we should look within. If we’re calm, we have better odds of calming others, of seeing more clearly, of deepening our insights. These are all coping tools, or skills, that are beneficial and integral to peace.
When we’re anxious, we look at the world and events through that prism, and too often see only the bad things happening. True, there’s plenty to see, and since bad news sells, that’s what we hear most, so this comes as little surprise. It is however an unbalanced view and one that, if we don’t guard our minds, can drive us into despair.
As believers, we know that regardless of worldly influences, God is in control. We know that there is purpose and reason (as well as a season) for all things. That evil done to cause harm, He can turn and use for good.
We also know that this conversion process is a two-part process.
- We do our part.
- God does His part. And He is always respectful of our free will.
His respect for our free will is why it is so important to guard our minds. If we focus on doom and gloom, God will respect it as our wish. If we focus on solutions and finding value or good in the opportunities tough times bring to light, then He’ll respect that. (Remember the beauty from ashes.)
Understanding His respect for free will, and how we signal what our free will is raises the question, “What do we want respected?”
An example:
Looking at the economy, you see a lot of people have been hurt by Covid and all that’s occurred since then. There are few exceptions, and I certainly am not one of them.
A dear friend recently asked me if I’d been hurt by the stock market challenges. I replied that the best I can figure right now, I’ll have to work ten years after I die before I can retire.
Now, you might think that’s a bad thing, and it is. But what if instead, you think about it differently? Okay, so retirement and traveling are pipe dreams now. Honestly, they were just something to look forward to, not a passion, but maybe for others they are passions. For the sake of illustration, let’s say they were passions for me and I’m bitterly disappointed that I won’t be doing either. I have two choices:
- I can stay disappointed and live the rest of my life bitter.
- I can look for something good and enjoy the rest of my life.
Staying bitter holds no appeal for all the obvious reasons. Dissatisfaction and discontent leads to a life of regret and disillusion until it’s too late to have a life to live. So I’ll take the looking for something good route.
Sounds easy, this choice. But it’s hard to find something good in losing a lifetime of savings that is the evidence of years of hard work. But that’s on a physical level and, in the grand scheme of things, that’s a small share of eternity. So I see wisdom in shifting to a big-picture view of my life. A broader canvas. In the broader-canvas view, I (we all) can find something good.
Shifting focus, I ask myself:
- What will I do during these years I thought I’d be retired?
- What new purpose(s) will I adopt?
- What deeper purpose in my current purpose can I now reach for?
- What can I do now that I would not have been able to do before?
- What new dreams do I now have time and the motivation to pursue?
I’m kind of intrigued at the possibilities. I see opportunity, potential to continue to grow and be a positive influence. I see hope. Yes, indeed, I’m enthused! Actually, I’m excited.
Yes, there will be hard times. Yes, there are wrongs that need correcting. Yes, we do have a lot of work to do in every area imaginable. Entity upon entity failed, and they all need to be fixed. It won’t all be pleasant. It won’t all be fun. It won’t all be easy.
But let’s face it. In these areas, we’ve been lax and apathetic. Anything neglected is always going to need repair. We get to be a part of those repairs. We have a voice in deciding how they are repaired.
We get an opportunity to renew ourselves and to define or redefine our purpose. To really think about what we want to do with this “found” time. And we face all this knowing that God is with us, and He’ll respect our focus and free will.
And maybe, once the shock passes and the fear settles, we will see that in these trying events we have also been blessed with a divine gift:
The chance for a fresh start.
I’m going to grab this chance with both hands and hang onto the hope and promise it holds. I’m going to be grateful for it, because I know that in seeing this opportunity, for me, God has already turned the intended harm to a good thing.
The beauty of it is that for a long time I’ve worried that collectively we were on the wrong road. Morals and values and ethics were careening down that slippery slope at warp speed. I don’t wish this meltdown had happened, but it has; it’s here, and that’s that.
Now, we get a chance to think about where we’ve been and where we are and to decide if that’s where we want to be and if we’re heading where we really want to go.
Collectively, we’ve suffered a gaping wound. Collectively, we can let bitterness keep the wound open and seeping (and suffer the infection that comes with it) or we can heal by focusing on what good can come from this. We know we’ll gain wisdom from knowing what got us here and what we learn on reshaping our futures.
We can have faith and focus on our personal and collective fresh starts.
Blessings,
Vicki
P.S. In case you are curious, I first wrote this article in 2008. It felt relevant then but feels even more relevant now. Remember, when God brings us to something, He also brings us through it. We just need to shift our focus and align with Him.
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