A ghost of a chance things will go your way

There's often a good chance things will go your way.

You get that raise. Your friends don't let you down. Dinner doesn't burn. The last episode of your favorite TV show's current season ends on a good note. You invite a friend to a church service and nothing cringy happens "on stage". An event you didn't want to go to gets cancelled. The doctor says it's nothing to worry about. And so on.

There's an equally good chance things won't go your way.

Your phone didn't charge overnight. Someone you thought you trusted lets you down. You gain weight you thought you'd lost. A politician ruins the economy. Your neighbor backs into your car. A check bounces. No one got your joke. You realize you'll never be able to help someone understand something important to you. Your coupon is expired. And so on.

Most of the time, we hope that things will go right, but we reluctantly acknowledge there is no guarantee. We can stack the odds in our favor, but time and chance happen upon everyone. Who you know can occasionally get you through when things go south. But sometimes things just fall apart. And sometimes things come together you never expected or imagined.

Sometimes you wake up in a realization that ideas of good and bad are real, but relative to what you were taught is good or bad - You might find out that your current good is less good than you imagined and that there is an even better good that makes your current good look bad.

If you base your outlook for life on your definition of good or bad and it's never allowed to grow or evolve to better or different ideas of good or bad, you're guaranteed a good bit of frustration and pain and you might get a little joy if and when circumstances go your way enough to overshadow the bad.

That's a pretty miserable way to live.

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A life of joy is usually one of choice. Even in the midst of pain, loss, and "bad", a person can still experience joy and wonder IF they learn to think outside the box they are in.

One of the most amazing things about re-constructing is learning to think differently about everything. Being transformed by the renewing of your mind. Put on the mind of Christ. Don't be taken captive by the hollow and deceptive ideas of the world. And so on.

Reading through scripture, I'm reminded constantly that God never promised the kinds of "good" we call good.

There's no promise of health, wealth, and protection from the bad things - things we often "name and claim" - it just makes us feel better to project it on to him and hope it's gonna happen.

He never said he was going to be fighting some of the battles we say he's fighting or working toward some of the goals we project on to him. He never called us to do some of the things we say he calls us to do.

And so we're conflicted. Stuck between worldviews and their contradictions - basing our fears and joys on two foundations that work very differently.

Stoics say that the good things in life are enjoyed by controlling our desires and urges and having low or no expectations. And, worst case scenario, that's not the worst way to live.

It's much better than living life like someone walking down the path at the state fair and being hollered at by the workers telling you to try your luck at a game that has amazing prizes, only to lose most of the time and maybe winning something small.

People do that all the time - running from one set of false promises to another - leaving with less money, few satisfying prizes, and (usually) indigestion from eating as much junk as you can because it's only on a rare occasion that have access to it.

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What about the piles of crap in life? What about the times when things go bad? How does a person find joy in that? How does having no expectations help?

I don't know all the answers to all those questions. It probably has a lot to do with our assumptions about what is supposed to happen and what isn't supposed to happen.

There's this other way I've been reflecting on from scripture. It's living a life of trust and dependence on God.  

It's walking with his spirit who is inside and allowing him to shape and reshape how we see life, progressively and as we can bear up under the change - not on the schedule of a local church or pastor or whatever - it's walking with the spirit, not just following people who claim to speak for him.

And as this is happening, the reward is knowing God himself and not simply amping up the hope that I'll get stuff or get to go to heaven.

I think that's why the fruit of the spirit includes joy - because as you walk through the occasional crap piles of life, you're not as disappointed because your "blessing" isn't the absence of crap piles, but instead it's the presence of God himself and he doesn't go away.

Granted, it is a journey and a process. There is no "name and claim it" with this.

It is coming to know God and to live in trust and dependence on him, even when nothing is making good sense from the POV you're steadily leaving behind.

It is pressing on toward him, knowing that one day you will be fully in his presence - not just in a paradise of pleasures you can selfishly indulge in with you and yours, but a real and lasting relationship that started here and merely continued on after this life wraps up.

Grace and peace.