Gift of Uncertainty

Eco-Spiritual Corner

Taking a quiz (Photo – maxpixel.freegreatpicture.com).

Do you ever take personality quizzes?

I love them, and do them whenever I can. I know what kind of dog I would be, what color I am, and whether I’m a ninja or a pirate or a storm trooper.

By Tera Landers

During a seminary class, the professor asked the students to line up according to how we packed for a trip. Stand on this end of the room if you make a list one week in advance, plan your outfits, and have your suitcase packed the night before. At the other end room are the folks who say, “Suitcase – what suitcase? I show up at the airport without having bought a ticket yet.”

Where would you be on that spectrum?

I was all the way at the end of the room with my suitcase packed and the contents itemized so I could check them off upon my return home!

Clearly I like to know what is going to happen. When I’m cooking, I follow a recipe. When I buy something that needs to be assembled, I read the directions. When I travel, I make reservations ahead of time and read all the information I can about where I am going.

But I know, just as you know, that life is incredibly uncertain. That no matter how much thought and planning any of us put into our days, at any moment something can happen that takes us in a completely different direction. And too often that surprise is unwelcome and brings sadness, grief or anxiety.

Luggage (Photo – pixabay.com).

As we face the consequences of our extravagant use of the earth’s resources, we are heading into uncertain times. Looking around, it is hard to imagine life in southern California with less water than we have now. With hotter, dryer summers and falls. Most of us can’t fully understand the changes that are coming our way – environmental and in how we live our lives.

While this is not an uncertainty that any of us are rushing to embrace, it can be a gift in our lives. A gift because perhaps this will crack open our humility. And our humility leads us toward accepting that we do not know everything there is to know.

As you pack your suitcases for your future, leave a little room and don’t zip it up all the way. We need to leave space for new truth and new ways of living that illuminate our minds, hearts and actions.