Patience In the Midst of Deep Change
Practicing Patience with God
Reflection By Scott Stoner
God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.
- Reinhold Niebuhr
“Deep change presents us with the graphic reminder that we are not in control of life. Things happen that we can neither predict nor prevent.” These words from Steven Charleston’s reflection remind us that one of the most significant challenges to our emotional and spiritual well-being is our ability to deal with change and loss. If we have experienced a recent significant loss, the holiday season will often magnify our grief.
None of us like the feeling of not being in control. When we experience that feeling, we have choices as to how we will respond. We can attempt to avoid the feelings altogether by repressing or numbing those feelings or pretending they don’t exist. We can choose to overcompensate by trying to increase control over some other aspect of our lives. Or, we can choose to use the experience of feeling out of control as an opportunity to deepen our practice of the opening lines of the Serenity Prayer shared above.
When we use avoidance or over-functioning, we build a wall around our feelings. Not only does this not work, it creates a barrier between ourselves and God. Acknowledging and accepting our vulnerability is an essential step in deepening our spiritual root system so that we can, with God’s help, persevere in the midst of deep change in our lives.
Making It Personal: In general, how do you react when you feel some critical part of your life is out of control? Are you experiencing any of those feelings right now? If so, what would it mean for you to turn to God with those feelings?
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Follow along with us this Advent season with our daily devotional and engage in discussion in our closed facebook group moderated by Robbin Brent, Carolyn Karl, Jan Kwiatowski, and Scott Stoner.
In this group, participants will have a chance to share their responses to the prompts in the daily readings, and also the chance to receive additional material for reflection.