Life on God's terms

Luke 17:33 If you grasp and cling to life on your terms, you'll lose it, but if you let that life go, you'll get life on God's terms.

This is one of those wonderfully paradoxical statements of which Christianity abounds. In the translation I'm used to, it usually sounds more like those who want to save their life, will lose it, and those who lose their life will save it. What does that mean to us as we stumble through our lives trying to find one that's satisfying and meaningful? Peterson, in his translation The Message, adds some dimension here. Grasping and clinging to life on my own terms: that makes me think of all the expectations I bring to each moment. Watch what happens when a 2 year old doesn't get what he or she wants or expects -- all hell breaks loose! There is crying and screaming, the child seems inconsolable. But smart parents know that in a few minutes, using distraction, or just letting nature run its course, some new focus of interest will come up, and the now old disappointment will be forgotten, even though by adult standards it just happened! There are so many things that can get in the way of life, or plans -- even simple plans like buying a window, or arranging to meet a friend for dinner -- that I have come to understand that all those obstacles or interruptions are in some mysterious way part of the plan. If I insist on things going smoothly, or just the way I planned them, I am headed for my own private misery. If I allow myself to flow with whatever happens, dealing with and addressing the obstacles or interruptions that seem intent on ruining my good time, then things can go smoothly, I can reach my destination without a lot of wear and tear. But I have to let go of the idea that I can control everything that happens.

So, is this what Jesus, in Peterson's words, means by letting that life go? I suspect there is a little bit more involved in this second part of the verse. I remember a friend who was a priest telling me, when I asked how he knew he was called to be a priest, he said all the other doors closed. Now, that might not be the most positive way to hear a call, but sometimes we can't hear above the voice of our own desires unless all the other options are taken away. I know that for me, when I put Jesus back into the center of my life, the way ahead became clearer, smoother. The career I had been struggling with came to a kind of blossoming I hadn't expected; I found a life that had been eluding me. The Bible tells us God knows how to give good gifts to his children, so when we pray "Thy will be done" it may not take us that far away from the path we are already on, but our attitude, I think, is completely turned around. Rather than looking to express or gratify our own needs, we shift to looking at how what we are doing can serve others. Then, when things go "wrong", instead of experiencing it as a "mistake" I can look around and say, "Well, here I am, how does God want me to serve here, where I didn't expect to be?" In that way, I find a life by losing the one I expected, and by being willing to lose the life I am expecting or trying to create, I find a life that is, in the end, more satisfying and meaningful because it goes beyond me and my needs, and positions me as a transformative agent in the world.

Prayer: Dear God, It is so easy to get caught up in my own plans, in wanting things to turn out a particular way, in what I look forward to. Help me to understand that the way to You is a circuitous path, and to approach it with curiosity and thanksgiving at every turn. Amen.