LIFE IS PRECIOUS… AND FRAGILE
LIFE IS PRECIOUS… AND FRAGILE
My role as pastor allows me to walk with people in some very sacred moments. In these tender moments, I am reminded that life is fragile and nothing is promised to us. We may have a measure of control over some things, but in the larger picture, life is full of both hope and hurt. No amount of trying to wrest control over our days will in any way affect the rain or the rainbows of our lives.
FOR LIVING WITHOUT CONTROL
I came across this from Kate Bowler not too long ago…
“We will have to develop a high tolerance for having so little control and so few bedrock assumptions. So let’s ask our God to “unplan” our days a little and help us live that way.”
“God, I come to you as I am.
It is all I have, really.
And the next one I’m conscious of
will be the same.
I can feel the way I move,
moment to moment,
without the comfort of “solutions.”
It seems wild to me now how I imagined
any once-and-for-all cure for this,
or a master plan to ensure things
will work out.
But, truth be told, that’s always been
my secret hope.
So, Lord, let’s try again.
I’m begging for a new plan.
I want a plan that is an “unplan.”
I must keep moving and planning,
trying and changing,
knitting my days together even as
they unravel.
So can we do this together?
Remind me to pray: come Lord
and quiet the worry.
I step, and you steady me.
I give, and you keep my hands open.
I act, and you fortify me with courage
to try and try and try again.
This life is uncertain, Lord,
but your love is not.
You tell the story of my life
regardless of how little I know
about how it ends, except to say,
you were there since the beginning
and you appear on every page.”
Reflection Prompt
Now that we know that we don’t know, let’s enjoy that thought for a moment. Isn’t it delicious that the God who flung stars into space also knows every beginning and end? So let’s settle in for a moment and let ourselves not know in the presence of the God who already knows. [1]
CPC READS
I only know a little bit of Kate’s story. She is a Professor of Religious History at Duke University who, at age 35, was blindsided by a stage 4 cancer diagnosis. Naturally, this caused her to rethink everything she knew about life, loss, grief, and even joy.
I first became aware of Kate through her book Everything Happens for a Reason - and Other Lies I’ve Loved. Although I love the title of the book, I confess that I have not read it. This leads me to a question: would you like to read this book with me? How about if we read the book and then come together for some discussion on a Sunday after church or on Zoom or both? If you would be interested in a CPC Reads discussion group, let me know in the comments below or by sending me an email at lstrommen@sjcpres.org.
Go make peace, my friends.
Pastor Leanne
Kate Bowler, Have a Beautiful, Terrible Day! Daily Meditations for the Ups, Downs, and In-Betweens (New York: Convergent, 2024), 90–91.
Community Presbyterian Church
32202 Del Obispo
San Juan Capistrano. CA 92675
949-493-1502
info@sjcpres.org