A Fresh Start: When Stuff Happens
Circumstances, shortcomings, simple solutions, and the two kinds of peace
“How are things going for you this year?”
When you haven't seen someone in a minute, this is what they ask, in a casual, let's catch up, way. But it is a loaded question, even if people don't know it.
Things rarely go as planned. Most likely, where you're at today isn't where you wanted to be. We don't get done what we hoped to do. Didn't go where we wanted to go. Don't have what we wanted to have, or didn't say what we wanted said?
Uncertainty interrupts our planning when stuff happens.
First Cause: Circumstances
My editor friend Liz Heaney loves to travel, and she writes the most wonderful Christmas letters reviewing each year's travels, but her Covid Christmas letter held this melancholy line: “I spent more time canceling travel plans than traveling.”
I know the feeling. My wife and I just had to cancel a long-planned four-week sabbatical in another country. That's a bummer. Sometimes it's circumstances happen that cut short our plans.
But other times it's our own shortcomings.
Second Cause: Shortcomings
We see this in the first quarter of every year when people are trying to live out their aspirations for the new year because they hoped to make a fresh start.
Some even make New Year's Resolutions and track them rigorously all through January. But then, much of what we bet on for a new year goes bust by February. There's a reason January is the best month for new gym memberships, but some 20% of them stop going by the end of February in a new year, and 50% quit within the first six months.
You Are Here
Have you ever noticed those big maps they have in the mall or amusement parks? The kiosks with the big multi-colored map with each store or area labeled. One time a not-too-bright teenager stood at such a mall map, staring intently at the little red dot, the one that says: You Are Here on it.
Seeing the designation he said: “Wow! that's amazing. How do they know exactly where we are?”
If you have ever been lost, having someone tell you “where you are” is the key. A handy map of where you want to go is helpful too. Good directions are a bonus. However, it all starts with that “you are here” moment. You're not where you want to be? Okay: stuff happens. What next?
You've gotta start where you are, today. I know, when things feel unclear it's hard to get going.
It is hardest to dream when the future is unclear, but it’s also the most important time to dream.
So what do you do? First, let go of what you don't know, then remember what you do know, and finally, do what you can do.
Part of what we do know and can do is in the Bible.
Paul, in his letter to the Philippians, shares some challenging thoughts about when stuff happens in unclear times:
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. - Philippians 4:4-8
Really Paul? Is it truly possible to always rejoice? Did Paul rejoice when he stubbed his toe? Is this like fake smiling when you're actually in a situation you despise?
What's more, he says, do not be anxious about anything?
Hey Paul, we're chewing on a good deal of anxiety over here:
17% of Americans will feel the effects of a panic attack in any given year.*
Each generation in the states is three times as likely to experience depression as the preceding generation.**
And psychologist Robert Leahy reports that the “average child today has the same level of anxiety as the average psychiatric patient in the early 1950s.”***
Anxiety is all around us. How can Paul say that we need not be anxious? Max Lucado reminds us that anxiety is not a sin; it is an emotion, so there's “no need to be anxious about being anxious,” but how do we take Paul's words here at his word?
Two Kinds of Peace
The answer is his concept of peace “beyond understanding.” This is a peace that transcends our usual thinking, one above our perspective. I looked into the language on this, and I suppose it is not the most literal translation, but I think it's a more compelling rendering so say that Paul is talking about the peace that blows your mind.
I don't know about you but I could go for some peace that blows my mind.
Perhaps I need to stop seeking the logical kind of peace, you know that one, the peace that comes when the circumstances are all great, and my shortcomings haven't reared their ugly head? The logical peace is easy peace, obvious peace. Instead of the peace that passes understanding, the logical peace passes by in a red Corvette with the top down and not a care in the world. But Paul is talking about an illogical peace, the one that passes by in a rusty Chevette with a broken windshield and all the cares in the world.
What’s more, Paul is talking about more than mere positive thinking? It's righteous thinking he's after. He's talking about seeking the power of the beyond-your-understanding-blows-your-mind-kind of righteous thinking.
If I'm gonna find that kind of peace, I better start by keeping it simple.
A Simple Solution
NASA had gathered the most brilliant minds in the world for the immense challenge of setting a man's feet down on the moon and returning him safely. But in the process, they had to figure out how to write stuff in space.
You see, a ballpoint pen, if you've ever used one in bed to write a note above your head, doesn't work upside-down. Without gravity a whole slew of things don't work but ballpoint pens are one of them.
So, NASA applied their genius to the problem and conceived of an amazing solution. They invented what amounts to a space pen: a fully functional gravity-independent pen, complete with compressed nitrogen release of the ink. Impressive.
At the time we Americans were not comparing notes with out space-race competitor, the Soviet Union. But we learned later that they were facing the exact same challenge. So they used pencils.
The Soviet solution was the simple one, the less costly one, perhaps the less impressive one--but surely the more efficient one.****
Staying C.A.L.M.
Max Lucado has a simple way to recount the themes of this Paul's passage above... he calls it C.A.L.M.: Celebrate, Ask, Leave, Meditate
Celebrate God’s goodness. “Rejoice in the Lord always ...”
Ask God for help. “Present your requests to God ...”
Leave your concerns with him. “With thanksgiving …”
Meditate on good things. “Meditate on these things …”
What does it look like to do that? Especially that last one... meditating? Is that like a monk kind of thing?
The spiritual disciplines can be very powerful and meaningful. And yes, monks are known for meditating. But everyone can spend time focusing their thoughts on something. That's all meditation comes down to.
Meditation is a spiritual discipline we seldom talk about as it is really just thinking about good things. It's not complicated. If it seems beneath you to imagine just “thinking happy thoughts” you might call it the spiritual discipline of aesthetics to impress yourself more.
Paul says, Think on the true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. So, here are some things I think fit the bill that I think people already are inclined to think about:
Looking at a beautiful painting by Rembrandt
Praising your children for their hard work and creativity
Reading an excellently written novel
Affirming someone on social media about something they accomplished
Watching an athlete like Giannis Antetokounmpo do amazing physical feats
Talking positively to your spouse about something you admire about someone else (rather than always tearing people down when they aren’t present)
These simple disciplines of thinking on good things might be where the peace that blows my mind starts.
Starting From Here
Once a businessman was driving around in the hills of West Virginia, utterly lost. He stops at a corner gas station where an old attendant sits in the shade, half-asleep in a metal chair. The businessman leans out the window and says: “Excuse me sir, but I'm going to Harristown and I seem to be lost. How would you get there from here?”
The old man’s eyebrows meet and he scrunches up his mouth. His reply isn't helpful: “Buddy, you sure are lost bad. If I was going to Harristown, I certainly wouldn't start from here!”
Well, guess what: you have to start from here.
You've got no choice. You can't start back a month or more ago on your New Year's Resolutions, you gotta start fresh today. Likewise, you can't start five years ago. . . before something in your past happened. You can't start five years from now. . . after whatever is coming up that you want to avoid. You can’t jump ahead just to skip Covid, for instance, as much as we all might want to.
You have to start in this place and this time.
Sure, when things are unclear and stuff happens, it's hard. But you can start by thinking on the true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy.
Who knows how God might be preparing to blow your mind with his peace.
This was such a helpful and encouraging read for me this morning! Thanks, Dave!! I also have an Amber translation of this peace—I’ve always labeled it “peace that doesn’t make sense.” I like yours better :)
Sorry to hear the sabbatical trip got canceled! A love the translation, "A peace that blows your mind!"