Wednesday, June 27, 2012
An Uncomfortable Life
This is a post I wrote some time ago that was previously posted on my personal blog, but I like to refer back to it from time to time as a reminder when things are a little rough.
Do you ever stop and think that life would be so much easier if you just stopped doing so much and led an “ordinary life?” Here, I am not talking about setting priorities and ceasing to strive. I am talking about those moments when the life you have been called to just seems too much. I will be honest, I sometimes grapple with this very feeling. Sometimes being a woman in Seminary seems like too much work. Sometimes being in charge of new programs seems like too much work. Sometimes being a Christian seems like too much work.
Can I say that last statement? Is it too raw for Christians to say that sometimes our lives just seems like too much work? That the calling on our lives is too much, that the spiritual warfare we face is just too daunting? That sometimes we just want to be people who go to work and take care of our families. Yes, we want to love Jesus but not in that dangerous, stand out on the end of a cliff type of love. We want to be safe. We want things to be just a little bit easier.
I am gone through these moments in my life because I have this very interesting inner struggle. In some ways, I thrive when I am walking in the destiny that God has for me. Yet, sometimes the task in front of me seems so daunting. As a woman, I will always face an uphill battle in the arena of Christian academia. I will always struggle against those who say I don’t belong in Seminary or those who say that I am not able to teach.
So, then, I begin to back pedal a bit into this more comfortable area. But here too, I am uncomfortable because my heart is aching for something that is missing. My mind spins with the vision that God has given me for my generation. So I have to make a choice. Either way, some aspect of my life will be uncomfortable. Will I choose to be uncomfortable because of the sinful world I operate in or will I choose to be uncomfortable because I am defying God’s plan?
This is a choice that I made some time ago, yet I was reminded of it again this morning and I sat and looked out the window of my office. Many new opportunities are presenting themselves, which would put me exactly where I would need to be for this vision to start to come into being. Yet, I am very much standing on the edge of a cliff. Not many people get my vision, fewer believe in it.
I thought for a second about retreat. I thought about my to do list, my laid down dreams, my tiredness. I thought about ordinariness and a simpler life. I thought about the work ahead and wondered what my future holds. But then I remembered that I would rather be uncomfortable because I am standing in opposition to the world than uncomfortable because I am embracing it.
I may not know the whole plan that God has for my life, but I know enough. No Christian is every meant to be ordinary because we all have a predestined role to play in the kingdom. To be sure, life is a continual balancing act in which we must determine priorities and boundaries, die to ourselves daily, and learn to rely on the strength of the Lord. It is messy and beautiful at the same time, exhausting on one hand and thrilling on the other.
The world is not the way it was meant to be and we are a sinful people who are continually being sanctified. The reality is that we will always be uncomfortable until the Lord calls us home. Today, I choose to be uncomfortable because I embrace my call to stand opposition to the world.
Can I say that last statement? Is it too raw for Christians to say that sometimes our lives just seems like too much work? That the calling on our lives is too much, that the spiritual warfare we face is just too daunting? That sometimes we just want to be people who go to work and take care of our families. Yes, we want to love Jesus but not in that dangerous, stand out on the end of a cliff type of love. We want to be safe. We want things to be just a little bit easier.
I am gone through these moments in my life because I have this very interesting inner struggle. In some ways, I thrive when I am walking in the destiny that God has for me. Yet, sometimes the task in front of me seems so daunting. As a woman, I will always face an uphill battle in the arena of Christian academia. I will always struggle against those who say I don’t belong in Seminary or those who say that I am not able to teach.
So, then, I begin to back pedal a bit into this more comfortable area. But here too, I am uncomfortable because my heart is aching for something that is missing. My mind spins with the vision that God has given me for my generation. So I have to make a choice. Either way, some aspect of my life will be uncomfortable. Will I choose to be uncomfortable because of the sinful world I operate in or will I choose to be uncomfortable because I am defying God’s plan?
This is a choice that I made some time ago, yet I was reminded of it again this morning and I sat and looked out the window of my office. Many new opportunities are presenting themselves, which would put me exactly where I would need to be for this vision to start to come into being. Yet, I am very much standing on the edge of a cliff. Not many people get my vision, fewer believe in it.
I thought for a second about retreat. I thought about my to do list, my laid down dreams, my tiredness. I thought about ordinariness and a simpler life. I thought about the work ahead and wondered what my future holds. But then I remembered that I would rather be uncomfortable because I am standing in opposition to the world than uncomfortable because I am embracing it.
I may not know the whole plan that God has for my life, but I know enough. No Christian is every meant to be ordinary because we all have a predestined role to play in the kingdom. To be sure, life is a continual balancing act in which we must determine priorities and boundaries, die to ourselves daily, and learn to rely on the strength of the Lord. It is messy and beautiful at the same time, exhausting on one hand and thrilling on the other.
The world is not the way it was meant to be and we are a sinful people who are continually being sanctified. The reality is that we will always be uncomfortable until the Lord calls us home. Today, I choose to be uncomfortable because I embrace my call to stand opposition to the world.
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