Life can be cyclical. In fact, it seems like it's easier to live a cyclical life if you choose it because a person knows exactly what to expect. There are times, though, when cycles are shattered. These cycle-shattering events can be positive or negative events, hurtful or helpful, and can range from a close relative's death to the birth of a child. Nonetheless, change invites a leaving of the normal way of life-- even if just for a time-- and the entrance into new surroundings. It involves stepping outside, so to speak, into the comfort of the sun or the stinging of the wind, into the unfamiliar. It almost never leaves you the same.
Some of us recreate the cycles ourselves, for good or bad, because it is with these cycles that we are most familiar. The cycles of loving and being loved, of hating and being hated, of aloneness and intimacy, of pursuing goals and resting, are taught to us by our families and cultures, and we practice them. They become to us familiar.
I want this post to be an encouragement to those who've experienced the painful cycles of life, the cycles of brokenness and loneliness and fear and turmoil. I read this verse recently in a book called God Attachment by Tim Clinton and Joshua Straub.
But Zion said, "The Lord has forsaken me. The Lord has forgotten me."
"Can a mother forget the baby at her breast
and have no compassion on the child she has borne?
Though she may forget,
I will not forget you!
See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;
your walls are ever before me." (Isaiah 49:14-16)
I was reminded, too, of another verse that is an encouragement to remain faithful in trying times:
"Blessed is the one
who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
or sit in the company of mockers,
but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
and who meditates on his law day and night.
That person is like a tree
planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither--
whatever they do prospers."
Unfortunately, however destructive cycles may be, they can also be comfortable because they are familiar. It is much easier to bear a familiar pain than an unfamiliar one, because at least in that cyclical type of pain with which you are aware, you know what to expect. The breaking of such patterns therefore requires bravery and endurance. It is no wonder there is such thing as generational sin: a father's struggle becomes a child's, and his grandchild's, and his great-grandchild's.
I believe that there is a peace that allows the option for this kind of change. It requires an admission of need, however, one that we're not always willing to make. That is, until we're so broken that the sheer weight of our troubles forces us to our knees. If you find yourself in such a position, remember that it is often here, where the ground seems so parched and useless, that the seeds of new character traits and passions can grow.
Some of us recreate the cycles ourselves, for good or bad, because it is with these cycles that we are most familiar. The cycles of loving and being loved, of hating and being hated, of aloneness and intimacy, of pursuing goals and resting, are taught to us by our families and cultures, and we practice them. They become to us familiar.
I want this post to be an encouragement to those who've experienced the painful cycles of life, the cycles of brokenness and loneliness and fear and turmoil. I read this verse recently in a book called God Attachment by Tim Clinton and Joshua Straub.
But Zion said, "The Lord has forsaken me. The Lord has forgotten me."
"Can a mother forget the baby at her breast
and have no compassion on the child she has borne?
Though she may forget,
I will not forget you!
See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;
your walls are ever before me." (Isaiah 49:14-16)
I was reminded, too, of another verse that is an encouragement to remain faithful in trying times:
"Blessed is the one
who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
or sit in the company of mockers,
but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
and who meditates on his law day and night.
That person is like a tree
planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither--
whatever they do prospers."
Unfortunately, however destructive cycles may be, they can also be comfortable because they are familiar. It is much easier to bear a familiar pain than an unfamiliar one, because at least in that cyclical type of pain with which you are aware, you know what to expect. The breaking of such patterns therefore requires bravery and endurance. It is no wonder there is such thing as generational sin: a father's struggle becomes a child's, and his grandchild's, and his great-grandchild's.
I believe that there is a peace that allows the option for this kind of change. It requires an admission of need, however, one that we're not always willing to make. That is, until we're so broken that the sheer weight of our troubles forces us to our knees. If you find yourself in such a position, remember that it is often here, where the ground seems so parched and useless, that the seeds of new character traits and passions can grow.
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