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February 7, 2024
A plethora of articles are rightly noting the formidable challenges we are facing as we move through 2024. Time magazine (1/22/24) used the word “Risk” to describe the state of things, illustrating the reality in ten different ways. It is easy to see our time in the ancient words of David, “a valley dark as death” (Psalm 23:4).
In the verse, David uses the word ‘through’ to set our time in the darkness in context. It is a time we will get ‘through.’ But his sense includes the questions, “How will we get through? How can we prevent getting stuck in the darkness?” It’s the philosophical question, “How then shall we live?” asked specifically about 2024. I am asking the question these days.
Insight comes from more than one vantage point. In this post I want to think about getting through this year (indeed, any dark time) from the vantage point of spiritual formation, which itself draws from interdisciplinary insights. The following things (stated as verbs, as actions) are helping me navigate my way ‘through’ this time of risk.
First, remember. It’s a word used 307 times (more if you count other forms of the word) to describe an action that describes acts of fundamental recollection—the kind that restores lost perspectives. I am thinking of two key remembrances: that God is with us (Immanuel) and that we have faced, and lived through similar times in the past. With God’s ever-present help (Psalm 46:1), we will do again.
Second, resolve. I mean committing ourselves to living by our core values. Not just verbalizing them, but enacting them. Resolve generates endurance which includes the needed resilience to simultaneously advance the common good and resist the evils which seek to undermine it. In classical spiritual-formation language, this is living by intention. And this is in relation to the virtues described by Paul in Galatians 5:22-23.
Third, reframe. Here I am thinking about making and keeping a Rule of Life. This discipline helps us not to fall prey to the anxiety created by overload. We reframe our resolutions in terms of selected actions we will take in the immediate future. A Rule of Life also helps set the work/rest pace which is essential for long-haul living. Dallas Willard gave us a great gift by putting the disciplines into this pattern (engagement/abstinence) in his book, ‘The Spirit of the Disciplines.’
Fourth, reflect. I mean by this “think for yourself.” In a time of deception, this is essential. Otherwise, we let the talk-show media pundits and demagogic types brainwash us. Critical thinking alone saves us from mental passivity that succumbs to “group think.” Reflect means doing our homework by using credible resources. In the new Oboedire, the Resources posts are my way of encouraging and helping you to do this.
Fifth, recreate. Simply put, have fun. Do things that give you joy. It is no accident that joy is early in the list of the fruit of the Spirit, for without it the other qualities are diminished or lost. We see the note of joy in the saints, who developed a pray/play life. And when we look at those involved in nonviolent resistance, we find that they are recreational. They enjoy life.
Sixth, relate. Life together characterizes people who make it through hard times. Often in the Bible, the word ‘you’ is plural, implying that the thing being described is accomplished in community. Friendships are formative in challenging times. Privatized spirituality will fail to provide what we need to endure.
I do believe we will make it through. Sadly, that way leaves a trail of tears with casualties that are the product of evil. But evil does not have the final word, God does. And I am counting on the six things above to keep me moving through darkness and toward light. Let’s go!