The 'getting your feet wet' Guide to Navigating Life Skillfully (Part I)

There I stood calf deep in water. How did I get there? Let me rewind. It was a rainy Tuesday morning. I was a senior in college and had just finished one of my last finals. The sun was just coming out after a week of muggy weather. It was like a scene from a Disney movie minus the talking cartoon animals. The burden of papers and tests gave way to the freedom of no more deadlines and the open hope of tomorrow. I felt as if I could breathe again and with each breath I became as light as air. Had I been in a Disney movie I would have broken into song that this point but I restrained my Disney drama until I saw the small puddles of water. The lightness of freedom tickled my sense of social decorum till I was overcome by joy. I dropped the keys to my will and my inner child came out to play. As I walked I kicked and splash in the puddles. Then it happened, with a hop I planted both feet in the middle. *plump* of a Calf deep puddle!

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God, give us grace to accept with serenity
the things that cannot be changed,
Courage to change the things
which should be changed,
and the Wisdom to distinguish
the one from the other.

This little prayer is well-known for its use by 12 step programs like Alcoholics anonymous. It is more than a 12 step program but a door into how to navigate life skillfully. It was written by theologian and ethicist, Reinhold Niebuhr. In reflecting on this prayer, I found it was like my puddle much deeper than I thought. Let me take a moment to air out some of thoughts.

Reading a prayer remind us of our needs this one is no different. It teaches three needs we should always bring to god if we wish to navigate life skillfully. The first is the need for wisdom. Modern man struggles with his addiction to power. No matter the flavor it takes, physical, sexual, political, relational, and intellectual; we live in an age when power and the striving for it define the collective consciousness of a generation. I think most people understand the necessity of distinguishing between the courageous and the foolish uses of power. Because of this I think we are reluctant to recognize that power can bring about necessary change, but that it can also have brutal unintended consequences. We intuitively know we need wisdom to distinguish the changeable from the unchangeable. Wisdom brings with it a "spiritual clarity” about life that gives discernment to know what we can change and what even with all our best effort we can not change. It is an insight that brings clarity to a situation. This insight comes from God but is very much practical and always ethical.

The second is the need for serenity amidst powerlessness. Life, by definition, is bigger than us all, naturally experienced as a mystery. It is the human experiance to live within a world that often over takes us. Moments when the systems and movements of this world are bigger and stronger than we can control. Yet in the filing cabinet of our egos we often loose this memo. No man can slow the tide nor spread their arms wide to stop a wave. They are bigger than us just as life is bigger than us. Many posture themselves as if that can capture the wind or fight the rotation of the earth. It is good to remind ourselves some things just can't be changed.

Serenity is God's gift to the powerless. What is serenity? Serenity means quite simply a state or quality of being serene. Serene is from the Latin serenus meaning "clear, cloudless, untroubled" Serene is a word used to describe a person marked by a utter calm and unruffled repose. When we accept things with serenity we accept them because of the beleif that God is acting in the bigger than us event to make us a better person. It is not cliché to say we can let things make us bitter or better. The key to such an acceptance is vision; seeing God as big and people, your situation, all other things as small. To the degree the sovereignty of God plays into your vision of the world is the degree you’re free from despair and anxiety.

While being powerless is no fun, hope in the middle of a powerless moment is liberating. Living in serenity opens us to know our true size and slowly brings us to feel at home in our own skin. Acknowledging with serenity the 'greater than us' things of life and resting our life in a greater sovereignty than our own is a path back to ourselves. In a day of technology and modernization, human accomplishment and ingenuity, accepting with serenity the inevitable of life in light of a sovereign God can be a path to remain authentically human in a plastic age.

The third need of every soul is courage that comes through the power of faith. Personally, I know of many that lack the courage to change. We live in a Prozac nation. Where people choose drugs over courage in the hope that power can be prescribed. While the proper use of medication is needed, even in the psychological community. We should never think that such means are ends in themselves. The better prescription is a little courage that rises from faith.

When things can be changed where is the courage needed to take hold of the moment? It comes from within the deep places of eternity through the grace of God and rises out of the human heart. Courage is a moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty. Rabbi Abraham Heschel called courage born of faith a notion of "spiritual audacity," and Niebuhr considered it a “touch of daring”. As both men saw biblical faith requires an element of courage. Faith needs courage for without courage faith is history repeating itself ad infinitum. Without courage convictions are useless. Without courage communion is lifeless. Without courage life is as predictable as it is questionable. Why do something again and again if you have no clue to its meaning? And what does something really mean if you have no clue to its purpose in your life. Sometime the courage will lead you to go against the grain and cultural trajectory of the present moment. Calling into question what men have set in stone. I pray my faith has a touch of daring and is expressed as a spiritual audacity in the face of injustice and even in the mirror. For the most courageous act we can do is look honestly at our hearts. We need courage to make such honest appraisals of the self. It is hard to judge the heart but not impossible. We can when we place God's standard before our eyes (the bible, Jesus example, 10 commandments), put our ego in timeout, and love truth more than comfort. Such times of reflection are painful and take on the character of a funeral dirge but like every funeral Jesus encountered it to will end with a resurrection.

On the day, I made my faithful leap people all over the world were making leaps of their own. Some made their leap in stating 'Hi my name is', followed by the words, 'I'm an addict'. Some with courage fueling the way leap into Thai sex dens to steal back children caught in the illegal sex trade. Some leap to there knees and for the first time in a long time confessed, 'I can’t do it on my own.' In the midst of pain and loss, some leap to grab hold of God's healing love the only things rich enough to sustain a wondered spirit. In all the leaps there is hope and hope can light any path darkened by powerlessness. As, I walked home with wet socks and a smile. I thought the day was special not because of my silliness nor the sunshine but the way knew life was worth it even in the rain and joy was worth it even with wet socks. So I prayed a simple prayer "Thank You, God! I'm alive!"