Glorious Uncertainty

I was having one of those good heart-to-heart conversations the other day with one of my sons; you know the kind! When the phone rang and I saw his number, I dropped what I was doing, retreated to the back porch swing, and basked in the sound of his voice. We chit chatted about the grandchildren, our gardens, his work, and seamlessly transitioned into the deeper topic of uncertainty. The conversation bridge had something to do with whether a certain plant was going to come back after the deep freeze or not.

Since he was a child, he habitually practiced setting goals and itemized action plans. One scenario that to this day brings a smile to my face and succinctly paints this aspect of his personality was when I was changing the sheets on his teenage bed and spotted a column of yellow sticky notes stuck to the side of his bookshelf at eye level abutting his bed. On closer inspection, I noticed the notes outlined weekly and monthly goals with bullet pointed “to dos!”

Fast forward to today. Such a precise view of life, though intrinsically beneficial, can definitely cause angst, because no matter how intentional we are in our practices, the rug will most certainly be pulled out from under us many times.

I encouraged my son with “senior adult” sageness! “The older I get, the less threatened I’ve become with uncertainties. I’ve realized that when I stubbornly dig into being a cheerleader for and defender of a particular axiom, something within me dies.”

For example, am I believing in God, or am I only believing in my belief ABOUT God?” If my certainty is only in my beliefs, I become self-righteous, critical of the “other,” and short-sighted by the view that my beliefs are complete and settled.

I emboldened my son to optimistically anticipate uncertainties, knowing that on the other side of such quandries are new eye-opening epiphanies just waiting to be discovered.

Jesus said, “…..believe also in me,” not, “believe certain things about me.”

Which uncertainty is giving you pause today?