Single Step

When I was in high school, and a new Christian, I remember a lot of hype around something called the “4 Spiritual Laws”. It was a formulaic program for “evangelizing effectively” and the brain child of Campus Crusade for Christ. I went to the weekend training workshop because the guy I liked was going and I wanted to know what the hullabaloo was all about.

The first of the four laws was, “God loves you and  has a wonderful plan for your life.” I remember wondering at the time how that plan was going to work with my own plan. The other thing was that I couldn’t imagine the Plan would matter to people because it seemed distant to me, and I was an insider!

Thirty-four years later, the fact that the Plan is in place has, surprisingly, become quite a source of comfort for me. When a tough circumstance rears its ugly head, admittedly, the Plan is not my first thought but it’s in the top five. When I finally get there I feel peace and sense of assurance that, although most things are largely out of my hands they are not out of God’s hands. You may say, “Well, that’s just fatalistic.” I don’t think so. Trusting the process and the outcome to the benevolent care of the One who formed me in my mother’s womb is strangely warming.

It seems God is a details kind of Person who knows not only when I have a bad hair day, but how many of those hairs are out of place. While I fuss over what I’m going to wear or eat or say in any given day, He promises to take care of those and other needs of which I may not even be aware. And when it comes to the big stuff, I find that sitting in those large hands – large enough to hold the world – puts everything in perspective.

Accepting the Plan for my life and the lives of those I love helps me relax in whatever life throws at me. God promises he’s got my back, and he gives me the tools I need to handle the hard stuff. Relying on that truth is not positive thinking (see previous blog post), but rather, hope well placed.

He’s got you and me, sister in his hands,

He’s got you and me brother, in his hands,

He’s got the little bitty baby in his hands,

He’s got the whole world in his hands!

The whole positive thinking philosophy has got me puzzled. As I understand it, it’s a belief in the power of mind over matter especially in determining outcomes and lending happiness to otherwise difficult circumstances. It’s the ability of the thinker to believe a positive spin ought to be applied toward the hoped-for or inevitable end.

Really?

Don’t get me wrong I love a cheery person and I like myself better when I don’t complain. I also understand that obstacle-based thinking can limit potential. Just think of all we would have missed if our pioneers had said, “it can’t be done”: going to the moon, splitting the atom, discovering America and antibiotics, in vitro heart surgery, to name a few!

Here’s where positive thinking runs amuck. When someone is diagnosed with cancer, for example, I sometimes hear it said that the person has a great attitude. What does that mean? Is she happy about her circumstances? Is she not able to face them? Is she hiding from the judgment that threatens to translate her upset into “she’s not handling things well”? Is she banking on a cure or resolve or a happy ending of another sort? Will her circumstances worsen because her positive outlook is not positive enough? You see where I’m going here?

I wonder how much freedom we give one another to just be who we are, reacting and responding to life as honestly as we can with what we have been given. Tears are natural, aren’t they? Sadness, anger, doubt, frustration, and empathy are for times when we hurt. Aren’t they? Is a healthy response equal to a positive one?

Sometimes Christian friends quote Philippians 4:8 as a way of promoting positive thinking or faith, as they define it. “Whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worth of praise, think about these things.” Within the context of the book of Philippians, I understand these words to speak to a model for integrity and excellence in behaviour, not the promotion of positive thinking. Is thinking in the positive really equal to faith in God? Isn’t the point the object of dependence and the power of the agent?

The reason I say this is because so much of the rest of the Bible allows for, expects and accommodates lament. 44% of the Psalms is lament, much of the book of Jeremiah, an entire book is entitled Lamentations, the latter prophets certainly lament, Jesus’ own experience in the Garden of Gethsemane, for example, are indications that when we face tough times we should be allowed (and allow others) to be and express upset. Why else would II Corinthians, chapter 1, verses 3-4 say, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”?

We live closer to St. Valentine’s intentions when we give people freedom from the burden of having to be positive.  Happy Valentine’s Day!