Rising Above Everyday Contentions

“... those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,

they shall mount up with wings like eagles,

they shall run and not be weary,

they shall walk and not faint.”

~Isaiah 40:31 (NRSV)

There are many things that come into the sensation and intuition of our felt life, those which threaten our peace, those we attribute as attack, and those that cannot be seen any other way than as a challenge.

Having a way of coping with life’s challenges, in order that these threats would be converted to opportunities, where negative thinking is transformed into positive action, is resilience. We’re blessed if we develop such skills; if we simply try, and keep patiently trying.

God blesses us with immediate strength of hope when we, in courageous truth, tackle the full brunt of our feelings, processing them as long as they take, such that we would rise above—like the Eagle—these everyday contentions.

No Middle Ground

So far as spiritual things are concerned, there is no middle ground to be taken regarding our problems. We either tackle them or we submit to them. Yet, even submitting to our problems is not a bad thing if we eventually process the material and find God’s favour in rising above the concern.

It never pays to have ambivalent responses to our problems; to just allow them free rein without working on them. When we do such things, without the spiritual effort to wrangle with our feelings, the problems tend to overcome us, and we react some way that feels beyond our control.

When we accept our problems as our own, for they are nobody else’s, we advance our thinking even unconsciously. If we’re given to fear or procrastination, and we’re therefore stunned for courage, we need, somehow, a courageous resolve. A mistake of decision-making is better than no decision at all. Remember, the Lord goes before us.

Faith decrees that, in advance of solutions, courage gets us there.

Faith In The Matter Of Challenges

Where the rubber hits the road on our faith journey is our working even where vision is unclear. Recognising hope is something invisible, like we don’t hope for something we already see, our hope abounds, in faith, that God will guide and direct us—as we submit our feelings and thoughts to him.

Something miraculous occurs. At the right time, which is not set down as minutes or months, we will receive our direction, and then it will be up to us to act. A supernatural confidence provided by the Holy Spirit is part of this transaction.

***

The best advantage of faith in God is the strength we receive in rising above everyday contentions. Challenges and threats can be converted into opportunities and actions of love. These are done not through fighting the world’s way, but rising above, being guided by God. Our Lord is entirely faithful in this.

© 2012 S. J. Wickham.