Moving Through Uncertainty

Consider Madeleine L'Engle's wise words in her book Glimpses of Grace:

Bach is, for me, the Christian artist par excellence, and if I ask myself why, I think it has something to do with his sense of newness. I've been working on his C Minor Toccata and Fugue since college, and I find something new in it every day. And perhaps this is because God was new for Bach every day, was never taken for granted. Too often we do take God for granted. I'm accustomed to being a Christian I was born of Christian parents who were born of Christian parents who were ...

That's all right, when one is a child, this comfortable familiarity with being Christian, because to the child everything is wonderful and new, even familiarity. The edge has not been taken off the glory of God's creation. But later on there comes a time when this very familiarity can become one of those corrupting devices. We learn this early, in our attachment to certain bedtime routines of bath and story and prayer and teddy bear and glass of water and goodnight kiss -- and the routine must never be varied, because this is security in what the child learns early is an insecure world.

How are you moving through the uncertainty of Election Day, of this week? Are you able to embrace the newness of a Bach toccata, or are you craving the comforting routine of a bedtime pattern that does not deviate? Be mindful of your lens this week, careful to ensure that, as L'Engle writes, "the edge has not been taken off the glory of God's creation." We see the spectacular beauty of change all around us in the brilliance of the leaves and the patter of the rain. How can we ensure that we are seeking God rather than familiarity, that we are pursuing Christ rather than pressing into routine?

Daniel's prayer of praise is an apt reminder:

Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever;

wisdom and power are his.

He changes times and seasons;

he deposes kings and raises up others.

He gives wisdom to the wise

and knowledge to the discerning.

He reveals deep and hidden things;

he knows what lies in darkness,

and light dwells with him. (Daniel 2:20-22)

Blessings on your Tuesday,

Jennie