Necessary Suffering

Some of you may have been noticing

if you haven't then I know you haven't really been reading this blog

that I have been

hmmm, how does one put this?

unsettled?

sad?

dark?

Well, lets just say it hasn't been the best of times!

It is not that there aren't good things going on.

I have a wonderful granddaughter who has arrived on the scene with her goofy smile

I have an amazing and wonderful group of co-workers to spend my days with

Great sisters

I have been blessed in many ways

But sometimes

lets face it, life can be a bit, chaotic

things happen that make us feel anxious, hurt, sad

There are a lot of challenges out there right now

The climate of American politics right now scares me, saddens me, and offends me

There are changes and threats related to my business that are stretching me, a lot

and I wake up in the middle of the night worrying, wondering, going through the options

second guessing myself

I have gotten stretched thin enough

that it is hard for me to attend to others the way I want (and that is at the center of both my roles)

Often when we get in such places it is easy to look at the chaos, and see it as only bad

to get into that place where we struggle with "why"!

Why can't the state leave things well enough alone

Why can't politicians tell the truth?

Why can't people see the value of mental health care for vulnerable people (enough to help fund it)

We get into that place where all we can see is the what is wrong, and painful

and we kind of want to quit

But I ran across this quote from Scott Peck.  Not my favorite guy, but he does say some good things

“The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers.” 

Shortly after that, while re-reading Richard Rohr's "Falling Upward" I ran into a chapter where he talks about what he calls 'necessary suffering".  He suggests, as does Peck, that moments of discomfort push us forward.  Make us think, move, change, grow.  Gets us our of our ruts. 

I still think the ruts suck
And I know that in climbing out, we are in danger of climbing out on the "wrong side"
But.... 

OK

OK

I can buy that.  

Lets keep moving God, one step, one choice at a time