the way it’s supposed to be
There is so much in my life right now that is not the way it’s supposed to be, at least in my opinion. And I don’t know how to accept things for the way they are.
To a certain extent, I have no choice but to accept certain things the way they are. If my car is broken, I have to accept that and fix it. If I’m hungry, I need to find/make food. There is elemental acceptance of my life.
But the deeper things in my life, that’s what I have a difficult time accepting.
Is it universal, this desire to do whatever we can to twist and change various elements of our lives to shape them more as we would have them be shaped? I suspect it is. I certainly feel that way.
Yet, there comes a point, or many points, where one meets a roadblock of sorts. Whatever it is, you realize that a certain thing is always going to be this way, it’s never going to change, and there’s nothing more you can do about it except to accept it.
That’s difficult for me. I can’t help seeing how things could be better if a change were made. It’s like seeing something as perpetually broken when I feel it would be relatively easy (if people did things MY way, of course!) to make it whole again.
Maybe that’s just part of living in a broken, sinful world. Whether I am right or wrong about the impact that certain changes would make, the fact is that in this world, life will always be broken. We will always see the effects of sin. Very few things will ever be perfect, and if they ARE perfect for a fleeting moment, soon that moment is gone and the perfection is only a memory.
“In this world you will have trouble,” says Jesus as recorded in John 16:33. Jesus goes on to say, “But take heart! I have overcome the world.” That’s a good reminder. Jesus is bigger than the world. He’s bigger than our troubles. And it’s also good to remember that ”now I know in part, then shall I know fully” (1 Cor 13:12) Someday the imperfections in my life will all make perfect sense. That very likely may not happen until heaven, and that’s okay.
I suppose that’s where true acceptance lies. It’s the idea that God knows the plan, even if I don’t, and I won’t understand his plan fully until I’m in heaven. Until then, I’ve got to continue to strive to keep my eyes fixed on him and what he has done for me, rather than focus on the problems in my life and my failures towards God. I have God’s promise that somehow, in the end, it’s all going to work out. It’s ALREADY working out according to God’s plan.
Even thought it doesn’t always feel “right” to me, my life truly is the way it’s supposed to be. What a comfort!
My biggest epiphany about acceptance was when someone told me that it is “no longer believing the lie that (xyz thing) can change.” That helped me a lot because I had always felt that acceptance meant “accepting” as in “welcoming” or even (gasp!) “liking.” That I will never nor can ever do. But there is a freedom in not fretting about “if” things were different because you know things will never be different.
granolablonde
January 9, 2012