Thinking out loud…

You may have noticed a few changes on this site. I’m trying to keep the blog home-page “look” fresh, while maintaining enough consistency for it to remain recognizable.

As I write that paragraph, it makes me think about relationships. It’s critically important that the relationships we cherish remain fresh, alive, and challenging – but at the same time consistency is equally important.

Relationships that mean something over the long haul are consistent, and they are constantly changing… they are solid, and they are malleable… they are rooted in commitment, and they dare to move into new territory.

STUCK: There’s a difference between being “moored,” and being “stuck.” And, to be honest (and in my work especially) lately I’ve been feeling kind of stuck.

Newness doesn’t have to threaten the comfort of the familiar; but – quite often – the fear of loss can stifle newness at the expense of the very life we dig our heels in to protect.

This principle holds true in friendships, in our relationship to faith communities, in marriages, and – yes – even in the way that we relate to our work.

• I am a writer, who became an author, and I am more excited than ever before about what I feel called to share with the world – but traditional book publishing may of may not continue to define my contribution to the 21st Century Faith-scape.
• I love God, I am a stumbling disciple of Jesus, I am a committed member of the local church where we have been planted, and I am rooted in Christ – but my experience and my expression of faith looks very little like it did twenty-five years ago.
• I am a husband, I love Rebekah with every fiber of who I am (and who I am becoming), my commitment is not only unwavering but it is growing – but that doesn’t mean our relationship looks the same as it did before we had children… or while the children lived at home… or before we were grandparents… or when we lived in Florida.

FEAR AND STUCK-NESS: So what is it that I am being called to do, in terms of dealing with stuck-ness? Our fundamental commitments do not – should not – waver. But there are so many variables at play in all of our relationships, and these variables are the evidence of life. Celebrations, stressors, moves, health, priorities, finances, difficulties, successes, sickness, blessings, missteps, triumphs, changes… the list could go on.

I know I am well moored – in my faith, in our marriage, in the gifts God has given me to share. But sometimes I get stuck – I am beginning to conclude – because I am afraid of the missteps, the stressors, and the difficulties. If I let fear of the missteps and the difficulties keep me stuck, then I have cut myself off from the celebrations, successes, blessings, and triumphs as well.

This is a “thinking out loud” post today. No pithy, tidy, or conclusive final paragraphs to share. Just this one thought, and it’s helpful for me.

Don’t confuse being stuck with being well moored. Fact is, if we’re well moored in Christ, then we’re much less likely to be stuck in any area of our lives.

– DEREK