Back in seminary I learned that one of the earliest "creeds" of the Israelite people began like this, "A wandering Aramean was my father . . ." (Deuteronomy 26:5 ff). It reminded the people that all they had was a gift from God and that they shouldn't get too comfy or self-righteous because they were a wandering people at heart. Their only stability was in God.
This week I have been a wanderer, a status that seems to be true of me with some regularity these days. My office flooded out on Sunday morning and I had to move everything out to let the carpet dry. Thus, all my books are boxed up and my office is in a state of disrepair. The sense of being a wanderer comes from just having moved into my office and arranging those 1000 books just three months ago. In the past few years I have also wandered from one appointment to another, from one home to another, from one set of relationships to another. So really, this just heightens my identity as wanderer.
But as I wander, I am once again reminded that, like the ancient Israelites, my stability is only in God. It is so easy to fall into the fiction that there is such a thing as "normal" life that we will get to eventually after all these "problems" are past. But reaching for stability or normality in the everyday course of life really is fiction. So when the storms of life are raging (all too literally in this case) I am grateful that God does indeed stand by me. I am blessed to be reminded that wholeness and stability are found in one's approach to challenges, not in the lack of challenges.
I am particularly thankful for the amazing worship that we had last Sunday when we had to rearrange everything at the last minute and the glorious spirit of cooperation that prevailed throughout the church.
My prayer is that when things get back to "normal" we will not forget that God is still standing by us and that our challenges are still opportunities to grow towards wholeness.
Blessings,
A Wandering Methodist
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I really needed to read this entry one week ago. I was experiencing a lot of anxiety last weekend over my stability at the job that I have only been at for 1 year. When the Connections concert was over last Saturday and a few of us returned to the church to find the flood, we began sweeping/pushing water out of the building. I told someone that I felt blessed by the flood because it was taking my mind off work. It was the first time that day that I did not feel nervous, and I felt proactive. Sometimes God takes catastrophes and turns them into something positive. The five of us came together as a team and worked very hard. The next morning, everyone that attended church came together as the family that we are worked around the mess. I love Spring Valley UMC. Thanks God.
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