Treading through life’s In-betweens…

No, I’m not talking about trapped in between the devil and the deep blue sea!
I’m talking about the ordinary and the natural, but the deeply exasperating in- betweens of life. They come in all hues and depths. Some are short lived, while some stretch into infinity. Some are funny, while some excite the tear glands. Nevertheless, they all have one feature in common- a certain uncertain frustration!

It could be, the in-between of a short hair cut and the aspirational sunsilk long hair..
The in-between of being a school student and a college goer…
The in between of being single and married…
The in between of resigning from the existing job and the offer letter of the new one…
The in between of breaking up with a boyfriend and considering another relationship…
In very generic terms, it could be,
The in between of a problem and a solution…
The in between of a state of being and another…
The in between of pain and joy…
I look at it as the short journey across the bridge…
It startled me to realize that at any given point, each one would be going through an in-between phase of their life! We are constantly fighting uncertainty and finding answers and striving to get over the season of waiting and putting the jigsaw pieces together. We are running the race, expecting God to show up with the answer and a wide grin, at the end of it!

I want to share with you a perspective without sounding superfluously philosophical. The article “The God of the Inbetweens” by Mike Yaconelli, that a friend sent to me long back flashed in my mind, as I started to worry about the in betweens I’m treading through. His solution to the problem at hand is to “live passively!” It somehow did not sit well with me when I first read it, ‘cos I’m an ambitious, energetic, intelligent, smart, young woman who wants to live my life ‘actively’. I am someone who has a will, and the wisdom God so kindly put in my head. God has given me the freewill to choose from among the many choices approved by Him. I ‘consult’ God when needed. I am not a robot! I desire! I decide! I do! And that’s how it works for me! I refused to read the whole article, thinking it is a very one-sided opinion of an author who didn’t like to take personal responsibility of his decisions and actions and someone who used God as a crutch! I am someone who’d like to run past the in betweens, as fast as I can, to find God standing at the end of the road with the solution!

As I have always experienced, God sneaks in at the right time. Yes, I said, God ‘sneaks in’. Sometimes, God’s entry is striking not because of its grandeur, but because of its quiet stillness- He literally tip toes into your heart and stands still at one corner! One such day, as I hit my bed after the day’s mad rush of fixing things and speeding out of the waiting phase, I get reminded of this article left unread. Later when I caught hold of it, the following jumped forth at me,

Living passively is seeing God in the in betweens of life.
Beginnings and endings. Starts and finishes. Those are the parts of life that grab my attention. But the passive life is the life of inbetweens, life in the middle. "God," the passive life says, "is found in the everydayness of life, in the middle of life. God is sneaking around in the ordinariness of each day, longing to be noticed, longing to be discovered. It is tragic that much of my life I have looked for God in the momentous, and instead He’s been waiting in the moment." The passive life liberates us from a God of decisions to a God who is between decisions. No wonder my relationship with God is stunted! I have spent most of my life looking for God instead of being with God.”

Living passively is embracing God in the "allness" of life.
It is strange to find God in the brokenness, in the pain, in the "allness of life," and to meet God there, converse with God there, rest with God there in the restlessness of the unresolved. To discover the sweet strangeness of a relationship with God is the unexpected reward of a passive life.”

Yes, God expects us to be persevering and thinking children who wouldn’t let the brains He’s created in us rust. Yes, He has given us the freedom to make choices and decisions with the wisdom and knowledge He’s given us. Yes, He’s more than willing to be the Senior Consultant who would show us the way out when we get entangled and confused. But, there’s a balance to strike, somewhere! When we go through the in betweens, when we don’t find answers, when we don’t understand the why’s, we learn to explore the other way of living life- to live it passively! That’s when we learn to be with God and rest in Him!

Sometimes, it's good to just sit beside God as He takes the driver seat, and enjoy the ride across the bridge!