Quicksand

What draws us to live in a state of discontentment? What does it begin with? Does it begin on a day that you can never crawl out of? Is it from something you did, that hurt another, and despite their forgiveness you chose to live in your guilt? Does it come from your past… things you’ve done, thought, or regretted that you can not get over?

For me, I think it started with a bad day, and then led me to the rest of the list. That has been my month. If you have been around me you probably watched me decrease into utter misery. Sure, I continued on as if nothing was wrong, but there was an underlying unhappiness about it. It was as if the joy and life had been sucked out of my like a vacuum. I couldn’t work. I couldn’t think. I couldn’t sleep; yet I was always tired. I allowed the worries of the day, month, year, and lifetime to consume me. I was in a rut. A pit. To me, what it felt like was quicksand.

When one is sinking in quicksand they lose their breath. They aren’t thinking of how to get out, but all they can think about is the fact they can’t breath, which sends them into more worry and disdain. So what can pull you out of something like quicksand? When you are sinking in your own misery, guilt, sadness, and anger, what is the life rope that you grab a hold to? (scene from Princess Bride) Actually, if you are the princess you aren’t the one grabbing the rope are you? No. Someone dives in the quicksand, holding the rope, and pulls you out.

When you both arrive on top you are exhausted, yes, and my biggest annoyance in that movie is when she is coughing back up in the sand. But she is so desperate for air. The sand is my misery. Westley is Jesus. (not a close comparison… but I do what I can)

So after this long, unintended, movie analogy, my point is I am coming out of the quicksand. Sure, I am still lying down, coughing it all up, but something has been restored. My dear friend Lindsay Helmbock asked me the question “what gives you life”? I couldn’t really answer. One thing I knew I loved to do, that I can do, is wake up around sunrise, sit outside with a cup of chai, and read the Bible. It’s different than reading it on my bed, or at the kitchen table. God meets me in His nature. He speaks to me. I find my rest in His creation. This week, yesterday, I did just that. It changed my entire day. You won’t get out of the quicksand if you aren’t willing and want to stay there. But I was ready to be rescued. Sure, there are things I am still thinking about, wrestling through, but my life on a daily basis is better now that I’m on the earth’s ground. Breathing.

My pastor said once “The opposite of discontentment is thankfulness”. The change began with being thankful. Whether I truly was or not, I need to thank Him, and through that I am being changed.

My life hasn’t changed. In fact, not one aspect is different. All the things that annoyed me before are still present. I have a lot of questions and unknowns, but life as I know it is not over. This is where I am. In Carmel Indiana. Working at MediaSauce. 24 years old. Living in Broadripple. Going to Common Ground. And I…I am ok with that. Because I know that is where God has me.