When Life Clicks, and when it doesn’t: (Audio)
We’ve been there! Time and again when it seems like everything is flowing the right way. Energy. Karma. Or Right Living. Call it what you may, we’ve lived this through this time and again when everything is working, ticking like clockwork, and nothing seems to stand in our way.
Then. The shoe drops and pensively we wait for the other shoe. Kerplump! It slaps the floor and suddenly everything seems to go wrong. Backwards. Upside down. Nothing looks or act right and everything is topsy-turvy.
Nothing Feels Right!
Remember those “anti-gravity” houses in the theme parks of our youth? Your sense of balance is off because the house looks right, but the ball rolls uphill. Does water flow the opposite way of gravity? No! Yes! But look! It’s doing it… How can it be?
Nothing works the way you expect it should!
You are captured in the moment of figuring out how to get to where you need to go but unable to go anywhere the right way. Yes becomes No, Left becomes Right, Up is the new Down. How do you reorient yourself to the new normal?
I’ve watched folks adjust to their new normal of life choices. Things they would not have dreamed of doing in their past is now their new way of living. Good choices fly out the window, and the bad ones crowd the table like guests at Thanksgiving Dinner salivating over the turkey and dressing.
Not to be uncouth, but it seems like garbage is not okay to enjoy! No. It’s one man’s trash is another man’s treasure, but suddenly all those valid viewpoints of the past are now the enemy! Kick them to the ground! Trounce on them! Poke fun! Make yourself feel comfortable about your new normal.
Think about it for a moment.
How did you feel when you stepped out of that anti-gravity house?
It took a quick moment for your senses to return to normal, but equally as quick you adapted back to the way things should be… You know what your life is supposed to be like, and you know what it’s not supposed to be like. The anti-gravity feelings are gone and normality returns. Life starts clicking again.
Look. There are those shoes ready to put back where they belong!
But there is a clue to getting back to where you know you should be. You know, where things click right along at the pace they should be clicking at!
How do you get back to normal?
Several things hit me over the past few weeks. Things were clicking right along and then suddenly it felt like gravity reversed itself and I was not floating in proper perspective to my surroundings. Something felt wrong. How do I get back to where I know I should be? What do I do to reconnect to normal?
Here are a few things I did that worked for me.
- Don’t panic. Life often sends hiccups down your path. When things suddenly bounce the wrong way, just slow down and evaluate what’s happening.
- Don’t overreact. Why do we struggle with this one so much? We snap at someone we love and before you know it the quagmire is deeper than we can dig out of in an instant.
- Reevaluate your position. Were you really headed where you needed to go, or did some fluke swing your head toward a different direction?
- Recalibrate. Know who you are, where you are, and identify where you should be. This points the direction to recovery.
- Renew and revive who you know you are by doing those things that charge your batteries!
- Rekindle and relight your fire, your passion. How? By remembering why you enjoyed the calling in the first place!
- Reconnect with your path. Feel the moment of things returning to normal and enjoy knowing you can find your way back.
The Prodigal
Quickly, because you know the story of that “prodigal son” in the parable Jesus spoke of? He took his inheritance and quickly wasted it, and his life. From afar, he “came to himself” and analyzed his new normal.
“But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.““
(Luke 15:17-19 NKJV)
He was willing to return to his old life but in a new role. But the Father… God bless father’s who know how to respond to those who are bent on destruction but know how to welcome them back home!
For just a moment. Consider your life. Where are you? Is gravity flowing the way it should and does everything appear to be normal? If not, it’s time to evaluate. I hope you make it back home.