Improv life

Check this out...

To struggle used to be
To grab with both hands
and shake
and twist
and turn
and push
and shove and not give in
But wrest an answer from it all
As Jacob did a blessing.

But there is another way
To struggle with an issue, a question--
Simply to jump
off
into the abyss
and find ourselves
floating
falling
tumbling
being led
slowly and gently
but surely
to the answers God has for us--
to watch the answers unfold
before our eyes and still
to be part of the unfolding.
But, oh! The trust
Necessary for this new way!
Not to be always reaching out
For the old hand-holds.
--"A New Way of Struggling" by Susan W.N. Ruach

It seems to me Ruach's writing mimics the words of wisdom recorded long ago in the New Testament letter from James, "Cast all your anxiety to God because he cares for you." Or as some friends in recovery say, "Let go and let God." We find peace and serentity, the unfolding of an answer, when we stop wrestling with God and simply turn our lives and our problem over to the power greater than ourselves...God.

Thanks for reading.

Unhelpful

Yesterday I received the most unhelpful fortune from a fortune cookie ever.

One of the small joys of life for me is reading the fortune in my fortune cookie. It's one of those things that people read out loud to one another if eating Chinese in a group. "What's your fortune say? My says..." People either chuckle, stroke an imaginary beard to signify that the saying is wise, or shrug their shoulders and say, "whatever." There is always the guy who adds, "...in bed" as a tag line to every fortune.

But yesterday...yesterday I received the worst one fortune ever. I felt offended, pushed aside by the universe when I received it because it was so out of my realm of life experience. I kept it just to share it with you. Here's what it said, "Your lucky SAT answers are: a,c,d,a,b,b,c" No kidding. That's what the slip says. SAT? I'm not in high school and probably the vast majority of people eating these cardboard tasting cookies are not in high school. You can't even add "in bed" at the end of it and make it sound funny. It wouldn't make sense. The only equivalent fortune to this that would be so irrelevant would be if it read, "You'll be pregnant soon."

Don't put hope in fortunes. I know. I know. I don't. They are random but a note to all fortune writers for the fortune cookie industry...I can work with "You will find success soon" because I can adapt it to fit my situation...but SAT answers?

C'est la vie.

God, thanks for being much more dependable and relevant than fortunes from a cookie.

Thanks for reading