The No-Bake Vacation: Recalibrating Life's Drama without Leaving Home.

You name it, it's happened. As my Granddad would paraphrase: "It's been a hell of a spring." And it has been.

The betrayal of a close friend. The loss of a family member. Then another death; this time a friend. Disagreements with those at work. Having a project consume every bit of you for countless reasons. 

Anxiety.

Fear.

Doubt.

Burnout.

And that's just the half of it. 

Health issues. Medical bills. The feeling of the loss of control. The unshakable anger when others perceive you falsely and treat you not just unfairly, but harmfully. STRESS.

Unbelievable stress.

I didn’t even go into all the other issues involved with those near to us and all the fear, anxiety, doubt we take on because we are invested in their lives.  Wow. 

It's been a hell of a spring.

Not to mention the torrential storms the South has endured. Seems to be a parallel.

Indeed a parallel. 

I need to get out. I need a vacation.  Know the feeling?

Don't we all desire that escape from the myriad of problems which circulate through our minds relentlessly like a cyclone and its destruction? 

Better yet, wouldn’t it be great to find that full proof way to vacate our never-ending issues without the expense of a vacation.  Ha! Sounds to good to be true? It is.  Never Ending=Never Ending.  

But what if we were to recalibrate the issues? 

Try this on for size:

"Drive out the mocker, and out goes strife;" 

This small, simple phrase in Proverbs 22:10 is huge in value. It helps us understand that simple boundaries around the drama are key for containing the massive monster. 

Never Ending + Scripture = Not Without Hope.

Think about it. When you go to the theater, where do you go? To a stage, to an opera house... to a contained four wall venue. Some go to a black box theater. Four black walls with actors and casual seating; not a lot of overhead. There is a reason drama is in a box.

There's a parallel there too.

Our drama-riddled lives also need boundaries. They need containing. In order to put Proverbs into action, we must decide to back out of whatever is causing us that drama. Maybe the friendship (as tough as it is) needs to go. Maybe the work issue or relational argument just needs to stop, regardless of who is right or wrong. Maybe the project just needs to be let go of, sending it on its way. Maybe the expectation needs to be lowered.  Maybe.... the issue is you and you need to step away to reassess.  (Ouch, I hate when it turns out to be about me!)  Whichever the case, boundaries are required to harness the drama. 

Some may scoff and say: "There is no way!! I can't get out of this. I can't get away from this loss I'm enduring! There is no containment to the heartache I feel." How true this is so many times in life.  I’ve been there more times than I’d like to have been.

Yet there is still hope. No matter the spectrum of drama you are facing, there are moments where you must step back and recalibrate. Look at it from another angle.  

Anne Graham Lotz says: “that when there is a storm moving through your life, God is moving.” She's right.

When our worlds are being uprooted and our lives are swirling, we feel like we are in the eye of a twister.  But from a different angle, we can see that we are also in a position to see the hand of God carrying us through. We are in earshot of hearing our Savior say: “Come," to walk with Him on the tumultuous waters and away from our boats. 

And with every step, we, like Paul, will wrestle with anxiety, fear and doubt; our vision absorbed with the rough winds and frightful seas. But those are exactly the same moments when Jesus reaches out for us and says: "You of little faith, why did you doubt?” (Matthew 14:31).

Because the only thing that really allows us to walk through the cyclones of life is the fixation upon the eyes of the Savior. For while we maintain that hard, unwavering stare, the distractions of the death-defying events surrounding us (like those deep seas that just want to swallow us alive) are simletaneously diminishing.   The effects of our drama lesson as we walk toward Christ, not toward our problems.  

Also realize, that in doing this, fixing our eyes on Christ it isn't just through an external glare, but an internal one too. I’ve come to the conclusion that we have two sets of visions: what our eyes see, and what our minds display.  Think about this example.  You see a beautiful rose, pink, yellow and it smells amazing.  You are visually stare at it while your mind's eye takes you back to a vivid memory with that same flower.  Thus, you see both the flower and the memory at the same time.  

Hence, it is our internal focus which must be that much sharper than our external one, because it is that focus, fueled on faith alone, that will help us recalibrate our views and stance despite what we are visually seeing (and experiencing). In super hero terms, it is our x-ray vision that will help us overcome. 

Even though, and I don’t know about you, but, I'm no superhero.  Although, it would be fun to be Wonder Woman with her great hair, and I gotta hand it to you, She-Ra was really pretty cool too.  

But “what am I smokin?”  Those women were made up.   She-Ra was drawn.  Wonder Woman’s hair was done by a stylist and redone after each take. They both are characters developed in someone’s internal vision of what they --and subsequent viewers-- wanted themselves to be.  The only reality to Superheroes is the desire we share to take on the world and overcome.  How mistaken we are to expect ourselves to be a fictitious characters.  No wonder the devastation when everything falls apart. (Note to self: Nix trying to be Wonder Woman.  Just take the Stylist.) :)

Truth be told, we don’t need the cape or the vacation to overcome our problems. We don’t even really need ourselves.  We just need to get out of the way and let the only One who can deal with the drama, do His job.

You know Who I’m talking about.

And, when we recalibrate our gaze on Christ, when we change our internal perspective and dwell on the promises of God versus the problems of our spinning worlds, we will then see our drama differently, by which containing it, and we can find ourselves free.   We can find joy amidst our problems.  

Say what?  

Yup.  You read it right.  J-o-y.  Joy.  Never thought you’d find it here, did you?  Nor did I.  But what a treasure to find and only in faith is it found. 

Look, I’ll be the first to attest that battling drama is never easy. It constantly feels like a restart from square one. I thought I learned years ago what I'm relearning today. Such is the human condition. Honestly speaking, it is probably my perspective of myself that needs a restart. Do you feel the same way about you? Thank goodness for grace! God knows our hearts!!

So, if I can offer any encouragement for battling drama, it is to recalibrate. 

Realize that God is moving in your life. He is using the bad for good. 

Refocus both external and internal visions upon the promises of God. 

Restrain the drama with boundaries. See it differently.

Then, inhale some fresh air and take the step of faith with an unwavering focus upon the Savior. 

And you, too, will find yourself upon the rough waters, walking through the storm... and without the temporary vacation.

What a hell of a spring, indeed.

Copy and Photos ©2015, Candice Irion.  All Rights Reserved.