Advent Adventure: From Here to There

by Tom Gilbert
Published December 15, 2004

When one door closes, God opens a window…but it’s hard waiting in the hall.

How do we handle those trying times of uncertainty when we are going from one thing to another? Job changes, midlife crises, separation, illness, retirement, school, marriage…

Powerful things happen when we have the desert experience, going off into the wilderness of uncertainty with only our faith and hope and yearning to sustain us. This difficult journey moves us into liminal space, where all real change takes place. It is the way that puts us “in the now”.

Real growth comes in these times.

A year ago the United States began a war that eventually toppled the Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq. Many of our military forces are still there. For the people of that war-torn country it is certainly a time of transition. Hopefully a brighter future is ahead for the Iraqi people. You can’t blame any of them if today they are despondent or bitter about the violence and disruption around them. It’s not currently a land at peace.

When our troops come home they will come face-to-face with processing their time overseas and surely asking questions about how they will now live their lives. It has always been that way when warriors return to their native shores.

You may be going through your own personal desert experience at this very time. Perhaps life seems unbearable and overwhelming.

You might be struggling with an addiction, disease or trauma.

Maybe you’re unemployed and the financial picture is bleak. Or you might be wealthy and wondering what life’s real meaning is.

You could be in the caretaker role for a loved one, a family member or a complete stranger. Even with great faith you may still squirm while you sit in the middle of distress.

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, often speaks about how important it is to accept that we are already ok, beloved of God, and the answers are within us waiting to be discovered anew. We must hold the tension between business as usual and a new, third way. Jesus gives us so many metaphors, even in his crucifixion. There he hung on the cross, between heaven and hell, between a good thief and a bad thief, taking on the sin of the world while forgiving sinners.

When change comes…when we are tested by fear and doubt…we must find a way to get back to the calm of our center where we can be with God and let Him reveal some answers. Those answers always come if we earnestly, honestly and humbly seek them.

One of the great temptations for me when I’m in those times of transition is to avoid the tension by doing something that keeps me busy. Sometimes this can be good. It’s useless to sit on my pity-pot. But, when it’s an escape from holding the tension then I’m just acting out of my addictive nature to feel good, or at least better.

“Things that matter most should never be at the mercy of things that matter least”- Goethe

It’s the battle between doing too many things or caught in the frozen fear of doing anything.

A new way of thinking can be embraced. We can pray for our troubles to pass and for peace to come to our souls. We can also accept that our current difficulties are to be experienced, that part of the learning and growing is to ask God to be with us, instead of running away.

The point of transition is transformation. This requires struggle. It is not a popular concept. Yet, this is the way…the path…the purpose of our daily walk. Without struggle we will not grow. It is the true meaning of denying ourselves and bearing our cross.

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