Reality At All Costs, Part 1
I vividly remembered the experience. The sensation seemed like a laser beam of light pointed directly at me.
An uncomfortable, heart racing, sweaty forehead kind of realization that no, things weren’t good. While my attempts to rationalize – a.k.a. the stories I’d been telling myself for so long – were beginning to develop huge cracks and were not holding water anymore. Jeremiah 2:13 – NLT – “For my people have done two evil things: They …
At least two stark instances come to mind. My husband and I found ourselves following after one of our girls to visit another church in our community. The pastor there talked about the real struggles of life and the dysfunction of coping with alcohol, no joke; I could sense my face flush as I squirmed in my seat. It was as if we had a one on one interaction, and he was talking just to me.
It felt like the spotlight went on, the house lights lowered, distractions faded away into the background, and the words the pastor spoke hit the bullseye of my heart.
No, things weren’t supposed to be this way, and I knew it.
But what could I do about it? And did I want to do anything about it? It’d be so painful to work my way out of this. I had no words to wrap around why I was doing what I was doing. I had no clue how to start. So I dismissed the heart tug and continued down the emotional numbing and unhealthy path I’d been walking down.
I was keeping up appearances at all costs, while my pride nearly killed me. That was about fourteen or fifteen years ago. But God continued to pursue me. Luke 15:4 – NLT – “If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them g…
Has that uncomfortable, squirmy moment happened to you?
You don’t have to be in church to have one. Somehow, someway – a wink to those who think this is all by chance and random btw – you have a wake-up encounter. Through a song, a scripture verse on social media or a billboard, or for the mom or dad – by a little one’s ability to point out a problem you’ve learned to ignore? Or maybe it’s a reaction from someone that’s unexpected and surprising? It is a bit of unwarranted kindness and patience that isn’t what you expected or even deserve after roasting someone with words or actions that hurt?
We all have these “wake-up” opportunity moments.
The question is, what are we going to do with them? Are we going to rationalize and tell ourselves what we want to hear? Will we listen to people who genuinely have our best interest at heart and pursue the influence of God because we realize we need something more powerful to do the transforming? (Albeit, absolutely with imperfect people making imperfect progress but still pursuing God and His desire.) Still, God can perfectly implement the plan He already has for us, despite our age, race, socio-economic status, or gender. Will we choose people who serve the status quo or who will tell us the gentle truth for our well-being and our good – our “health” – no matter what?
God has something better in mind for us if we stop to listen.
Appearance isn’t always reality. Set aside appearances to pursue “reality at all costs.”*
( In Part 2 of this series, Reality at All Costs, we’ll talk about what to do with these moments.) *quote paraphrase Jim Cress, LPC, ”Therapy & Theology” Proverbs 31 ministries.
