 |
| Melinda Viergever Inman |
Are
You Stuck?
If you’ve seen the motion picture Groundhog Day, you know that
the main character, a pompous, arrogant, and recalcitrant newscaster, gets
stuck in a time loop in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, at the annual Groundhog Day
festival. He relives that day over and over again until he shows personal
growth and becomes a better person.
The idea of getting to redo costly personal mistakes is
enticing. It definitely made for an entertaining and hilarious movie. This
character’s reactions range from earnest striving to resignation to suicidal
avoidance. Finally, after countless do-overs, he gets it right.
We often wish we had a do-over, but in reality, like that
movie character, we'd mess it up the second time exactly as we did the first,
especially if we haven't pondered the situation, our motives, our actions, and
how all of these impacted the people around us. One reason we get stuck in
undesirable habits, relationships, and jobs is that we don't do this inner
contemplative work. Another reason is that, quite simply, we’re sinners.
Habitual or “besetting” sins often haunt us.
Are you stuck?
We’re at the time of year when we contemplate our lives and
professional strategies. As the year winds down, we often pick everything
apart. In January we settle on our ideas for tackling the new year, and then,
if we’re not reflective, prayerful, and aware of our inner spiritual life and
motives, we arrive in February having changed nothing.
Is this you? If so, why?
Now is the time to make that assessment. Are you afraid of the
changes you know you have to make? Are you fearful that you can’t change? Have
you not uncovered the root cause of the destructive habit or work pattern? Did
you simply avoid the process altogether, figuring you’d plod ahead with what
worked in the past?
We really can’t do this and flourish.
We’re Christian writers, and we live in a rapidly changing
world. On the one hand, in order to be relevant and speak to the heart, we must
have our fingers on the pulse of the wider world, politics, racial issues, and
changing mores in our society. We must be informed.
Simultaneously, we must be spiritually aware of the Biblical
implications of these challenges and whether or not our own response and the
responses of the wider Christian world are in sync with Jesus’ commands and
instructions. This requires pondering the Scriptures, reading, and dialoguing
with other Christians to arrive at solid viewpoints and, often, positions about
which we must speak or write.
But on the other hand, writers require time for contemplation,
for prayer, and for sitting in silence before God as we process this wild
hubbub of rapidly changing marketplace, publishing industry, society, political
landscape, and religious culture.
These stretch us in all directions. But, what if we're stuck?
What if our consciences trouble us about any part of this?
Christian life involves constantly repenting and adapting to
the work of the Holy Spirit as he utilizes his Word to change our hearts. He’s
always active as he draws us to Christ and accomplishes God’s work in the
world.
This is my own challenge, and I offer this challenge to you,
too. Can we pray that we grow in harmony with the Spirit’s work this year? Can
we not allow fear, inertia, ignorance, or guilt to fix us in one spot,
immovable and unwilling to change?
Trusting God to lead us into change is far more transformative
and less frightening than undergoing a self-improvement project or believing
that we ourselves must conjure up all of this transformation on our own. We
can’t. God himself does the work.
So, can we trust him? Can we accept this challenge to depend
more entirely upon God for every change as we move deeper into the new year?
How about it?
 |
| Melinda V Inman, Author of: Refuge, Fallen, and No Longer Alone |
Connections:
