There is a mysteriousness that surrounds the interruption of our plans and visions. It has been said that this mystery is the doorway to all understanding. One day everything seems to be going according to the script that we have written and then, out of the blue, things turn upside down. Jobs are lost, health situations become problematic, losses occur. Life has taken us to places we didn’t want to go. John makes scriptural reference to this when he quotes Jesus as saying "I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go." None-the-less, it makes us feel as if something has gone wrong. We must have made a mistake somewhere along the line. Perhaps we are being punished for something. It is acutally sometimes the only way that we can be taken the different place. There are reasons that go furhter than our own ability to reason. These hard knocks and trials are designed to deepen our experience of life.
Often it takes something major to wake us up. It is loss of control more than anything else that humbles us and enables us to see the big picture. It reminds us that what we know and understand is a small fraction of the great mystery of our existence. The key to the understanding lies in what we do not know. This awareness broadens us as we release our resistance to reality. Joy exists within us independently of whether things go our way or not. We can trust that we will find that joy if we are willing to surrender to the situation. It is a matter of allowing our difficulties to deepen our understanding of life rather than leading us to despair. We will emerge transformed, braver and more confident for having moved through the darkness.
