NECESSARY INTERRUPTIONS
June 2005

Henri Nouwen, the French theologian in his book, REACHING OUT, tells of meeting an older experienced professor, who spent most of his life at the University of Notre Dame. While we strolled over the beautiful campus, he said with a certain melancholy in his voice, "You know, my whole life I have been complaining that my work was constantly interrupted, until I discovered that my interruptions were my work."

God has a habit of interrupting people's lives. It has been happening for centuries. There is Abram, seventy-five years old, living out his life in Haran, looking after his family, settled and happy. God calls him, "Get your stuff together. You're going on a journey. Don't ask where. I'll let you know when you get there and I will help you build a great nation. I will bless all that you do." And Abram along with his wife Sarah and the rest of the family responded to God's call. He packed up all his belongings and left the past behind to set off into the unknown with nothing more than God's promise.

Life is a series of stages, or stepping stones. Each step opens other possibilities and we are required to make choices. The decisions can be daunting: what career do I want to enter; what school should I go to; whom shall I marry; where should I live; should I stay with my present job or should I change to another; How should I handle my illness; can I trust my physician

Decisions send us in a particular direction as we move through life by stages. Even wrong choices and mistakes can eventually lead to positive results. Life unfolds as it should, and no evaluation can be made of a person's life until the journey is complete.

When the Hebrews left Egypt, they wandered in the wilderness for forty years before reaching the Promised Land. The wilderness is a metaphor for the empty stages of our lives, those times when we just can't seem to find our way. It may be those times when we feel as though we are not accomplishing anything and we wonder if there is any point to living. These are the dry times when there is little growth or movement. And yet these times are absolutely necessary, because we learn from those experiences before we move on. The valleys are what makes the mountain peaks possible.

We don't live in Lake Woebegone where all the children are above average. Life has its challenges that make growth possible. Often those challenges require waiting and being patient while events unfold and God's vision becomes apparent in our lives.

The poet John Milton, writing on his blindness, said, "They also serve who only stand and wait." The scriptures tell us time and time again that we need to wait for the next stage: "The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that seeks him." (Lam.3) "From ages past no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who works for those who wait for him." (Is.64) "Those who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. (Is. 40)

Our lives get interrupted sometimes, and we need to be patient and recognize that this, too, is for a purpose. There are those who get frustrated with the aging process, when their bodies are no longer able to do those things they did when they were in their youth. We look for healing to regain our lost strength, to make things as they once were.

We don't know where life's road will take us, but we journey by stages trusting that whatever befalls us is not without purpose, and at the end of the journey all things will be made clear.

Dr. Harry L. Serio