Finding God in Stuck Places
The Jefferson Memorial proudly overlooks this small body of water encircled by puffy, pink, and white Japanese cherry blossoms. The blossoms fall like snow, making the scene quite magical. The trick is to visit when these trees are at their peak and somehow avoid the droves of people who flock to see them with selfie-sticks in hand.
This year, we decided to head down on a Sunday evening before sunset. We were expecting some traffic, but hoped most tourists had left. Sure enough, as soon as we neared the bridge, our car ground to a halt, and we were stuck in a four-lane gridlock. With the Washington Monument in sight and water lapping below, we found ourselves surrounded by a sea of motorists, clutching their steering wheels tightly with blank stares.
From the open car windows, sounds and smells of all kinds made their way into our airwaves. Reggae mixed with rap and exhaust paired with other mysterious types of smoke wafted our way. As my eyes darted from my watch to the slowly sinking sun, I realized we would be here a while, and my frustration began to build.
Then, like a clingy child, anxiety crawled up into my lap. My seatbelt started to feel unusually tight, and beads of sweat made my shirt cling. There was no way forward, no way back, and absolutely no way out of this mess. We were stuck.
After a few deep breaths, it dawned on me that I was contributing to my own discomfort by counting the minutes and wishing for a way out. We were not in control of this traffic. We just had to ride it out, or in this case, sit it out.
I realized that what I set my mind on was my choice. Focusing on being stuck was not helping. In fact, it was making things worse. What if I accepted my situation and trusted God for our estimated time of arrival? What if I did what Philippians 4:8 says and set my mind on whatever is true, right, pure, noble, excellent and lovely?
Could I look past the cranky driver next to me to the clouds gathering with an orange glow? The more I thought on beautiful things and chatted with my husband on topics other than the traffic, the more I felt at peace. Before I knew it, we were on our way.
I started thinking about the stuck places in my life, too, the ones where there is no way forward or back; the places I am plodding through that feel more like a standstill. Things like job problems, relationship issues, financial gridlock, people who just won’t bend to my liking, health burdens, and loss, can cause me to feel trapped with no way out. These stuck places can put me in a spin of anxiety and lure me into constant attempts to control.
The truth is that things are under control, just not mine. God is in charge and is holding all things together. The sooner I relinquish my right to have people and circumstances the way I want, embracing things as they are, the sooner I can find peace. When I open my hands to accept what He gives, I can allow my best plan to die, making room for beautiful and unexpected things to grow in the here and now.
God invites me to leave “the traffic” and my stuck places with Him, trusting that He knows what He is doing. Instead of becoming obsessed with useless attempts at fixing things, He asks me to turn my face and fix my affections on Him; to search for what is good, beautiful, and right.My ‘work’ is to look for Him in every situation, especially when things feel like they are going nowhere.
He loved me in my moment of anxiety on that bridge by pointing me to beauty and giving me my husband to talk to. Even though I was stuck He was not. He was there and He got me through. So then, let us not lose heart but hold fast to Him. He is here, loving us in this moment too, and that changes everything.
We did finally get there before the sun sank below the horizon. The cherry blossoms were magnificent and so worth the wait!
