Tag: Despair

What Chapter Are You In Right Now?

There was never yet an uninteresting life. Such a thing is an impossibility. Inside of the dullest exterior there is a drama, a comedy, and a tragedy.  – Mark Twain

 

Everyone’s life is filled with chapters of joy, sadness, triumph and tragedy.  The trick to surviving it all is to keep reading your life, a new chapter is sure to arrive before long.

Every night I read before going to sleep. Sometimes, if I’m especially tired or the book isn’t as interesting as I had hoped, I will start to flip through the pages to see how long I have until the end of the chapter. This is where short chapter books become most enjoyable.

Have you thought about your life like chapters in a book? Are you on an adventure, mystery or a self-improvement manual right now?

What chapter are you in right now? A short one that gets right down to business or full of action with over the top characters? Maybe you’re ready to start turning the pages to see when the next chapter gets here?

I’m living through a long chapter right now. But there will be another one sooner or later. The point is to not get stuck in the chapter you’re in today. Keep your eyes open for what might lie around the next corner. Never turn loose of hope.

The chapter you’re living in right now, whether it’s exciting or full of despair, isn’t your life. It’s just one chapter. Keep turning the next page.

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
By Robert Frost

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

Don’t you feel like there are still too many pages ahead of you? Why stop right now and feel defeated, scared or stuck? This is just one chapter. There are miles and miles to go.

Don’t put the book of your life down and stay stuck in that chapter – keep turning the pages!

“The greatest hazard of all, losing one’s self, can occur very quietly in the world, as if it were nothing at all. No other loss can occur so quietly; any other loss – an arm, a leg, five dollars, a wife, etc. – is sure to be noticed.” – Søren Kierkegaard

Time passes quickly. It’s when I stop and brood that I feel like I’m in an endless chapter. I can’t even remember the endless chapters of years ago in my past. What’s important is not to lose today by being lost in the past or worrying about tomorrow. When I lose the days like that, I’m losing my self.  I’ve got to remind myself to stay in today and make it count.

Keeping reading your life, one page at a time.

“So do not worry about tomorrow. Let tomorrow worry about itself. Living faithfully is a large enough task for today.” – Matthew 6:34 (The Voice)

Looking The Other Way Around

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“The truth of the matter is that the whole world has already been turned upside down by the work of Jesus Christ” ― Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship

A friend from college in the midst of a medical crisis passed away this week, not so much unexpectedly, but all of a sudden. As I looked back at photos from when we were together at college, it seemed as if a thousand years had passed. And yet, it was just a moment ago when we were having so much fun and dreaming about a hopeful future.

In the eternal scheme of things, as a lyric goes from one of my favorite singers, “…you and I will simply disappear, out of sight.”  

  • Time passes us by so quickly
  • So much that we worry our lives with, doesn’t really matter
  • Perspective and context are essential to keep ourselves on track – heading in a meaningful direction (instead of lost in the woods, cussing too much)

Death sometimes comes too fast.  To some who are too young.  It catches us off guard. Things seem out of order. I posted to friends a passage from the Gospel of John as I thought about sudden departures for heaven. It’s a familiar passage, when Jesus is telling his disciples (and us) to not be afraid, there are bigger and better things waiting in eternity.

Don’t get lost in despair; believe in God, and keep on believing in Me. My Father’s home is designed to accommodate all of you. If there were not room for everyone, I would have told you that. I am going to make arrangements for your arrival.  I will be there to greet you personally and welcome you home, where we will be together. – John 14:1-3 (The Voice)

The translation grabbed my attention.  The reason that despair (and fear and worry and anxiety and anger and frustration and calamity and uncertainty and…) can be conquered isn’t because Jesus has a magic lamp to rub and wishes come true. The reason that all of these trials of the heart and mind can be defeated is because, in perspective, they don’t matter as much as we think they do in the moment.

Our forever future has already been established. Here and now with all of the accompanying troubles, pales in comparison to the overwhelming eternity that awaits – where Jesus himself is waiting. This is the true context in which we ought to walk our steps on earth. Always on the march toward a heavenly home. One that won’t ever need a fixing up!

Last year, my Sunday School class shared the story in Acts 12 of Peter’s rescue from prison by an angelic messenger. We couldn’t help but notice the first verses of that chapter that quickly described the execution of Jesus’ brother James in the same jail. This great mystery puzzles me still. Sometimes God sends an angel to the rescue, and other times there’s an execution awaiting.

But the way I have been thinking about that story and telling it is backwards. Probably lots of things I think about are that way, what about you? We are now living on the Titanic and we know it’s going down. We are awaiting transport to safety to be secure forever.

The sad news in Acts 12 isn’t that James was left in jail to be executed. With a Christian orientation to our mindset, when we read this account, we ought to be heartbroken that poor Peter had to stay on board a little while longer and wasn’t taken to safety as quickly as his fellow disciple James.

Paul had this perspective when he wrote…

“For my life is about the Anointed and Him alone. And my death, when that comes, will mean great gain for me. – Philippians 1:21 (The Voice)

There is so much about my perspective that needs constant reorientation because of the Good News. What about you? Do you need to use your faith today to remember the eternal context and reorient your heart and mind (and mouth) back toward that accurate perspective?

I showed this quick video to my class this week – it helps keep your thinking the right way around.