When You Encounter Interruptions by Sandi Somers

Interruptions stop us...

We’re all familiar with interruptions.

They may be small interruptions: a phone call or text message or visitor at our door while we're trying to write. A friend who wants our attention when we’re busy. Someone who interjects their own opinions while we’re speaking. These interruptions can detract us from the focus/task at hand.

Interruptions may be of intermediate seriousness. This summer I was mentally drained from taking writing courses with their demands of weekly assignments, longer essays, and lots of reading. So from May to August I couldn’t write. The ideas didn’t come. Sometimes I felt I had lost four months of writing time.

However, major, life-changing interruptions out of our control can rock our world —and shatter our daily life, our hopes, and dreams.

Last year Tracy Krauss spent time in the hospital with continuing health issues, and over the year she was forced to scale back her responsibilities. “Limitations are my new realities,” she wrote.

Nina Faye Morey’s life was interrupted last year when her husband passed away. “Unfortunately, it washed away all those familiar roads in my life, leaving me to tread a lonely and solitary path through the wilderness,” she wrote.

Katie Gerke, one of our occasional bloggers, has written how MS has robbed her of most of her mobility and dreams for the future. And now in the last two months, she has been in and out of the hospital, including in ICU, dealing with various health issues (but not Covid so far). Over her years with MS, she has dealt with debilitating pain and weariness, isolation, and sometimes overwhelming sadness.

When we are interrupted, we may at first be disoriented. Bewildered. Angry. What we thought were our next plans have been halted; something or someone we love is lost with nothing to replace it, nowhere to go.

“The major problem of life is learning how to handle the costly interruptions,” wrote Martin Luther King. “The door that slams shut, the plan that got sidetracked, the marriage that failed. Or that lovely poem that didn’t get written because someone knocked on the door.”

Yet often these are God's interruptions that come from His love. They come for a purpose and plan. “My whole life I have been complaining that my work was constantly interrupted until I discovered the interruptions were my work,” Henri Nouwen wrote near the end of his life.

During this time God may bring us to a place of complete dependency on Himself, a place where he shows us his tenderness. He speaks comfort, promise of his presence and rest. "I will make the Valley of Trouble a door of hope", He says (Hosea 2:15)

I learned this summer that “to everything there is a season” (Eccl 3:1). What appeared to be an interruption to my writing was an intervention. God knew I needed time to rest, to turn my attention to other things…beside writing…working in my yard and garden, taking long walks (the outdoors always rejuvenates me), catching up on visiting family and friends when Covid restrictions eased, and relaxing with God in the early morning. Finally as August progressed, I felt writing sparks began to flicker.

Tracy discovered a door of hope as she wrote: “As God continues to give me clarity about what I am to be doing right now in this stage of my life, I cannot continue to look back and long for how it used to be.” But she adds that God still has a plan and purpose for her, “I have more books to write, grandchildren to snuggle, people to encourage, and interceding to do, but perhaps not at the same pace.” 

Nina absorbed meaningful quotes on grief and thoughts from scriptures, which she shared with us. To restore some semblance of normalcy, she began to write again, also knowing that “creative activities are positive ways to cope with negative feelings and emotions.” She also looks forward to being reunited with her husband and meeting Jesus one day. 

Katie finds God’s hidden treasures as she lives with MS. She wrote that especially in her darkest days, “God shows Himself in light, so brilliant and breathtaking that I will take it and tuck it in my heart so I can use it ‘as a lamp to my feet and a light to my path’” Psalm 119:105.

“Interruptions (are) God's appointments." Debbie Macomber

And now it’s your opportunity.  

 How can you grapple with CS Lewis’ advice: “The truth is of course that what one calls the interruptions are precisely one’s real life – the life God is sending one day by day”?

How has God shown Himself to you in these interruptions?

Has your interruption turned into an opportunity—if so, how?

My Tattered Map - Marnie Pohlmann

I gaze at the map as it once again lays open on the table. It is well used, crinkled, and faded. Spills have stained it, hiding parts of the contoured landscape. Some of the folds have torn from being manipulated too many times while studying the way to go, and by constantly trying to restore it to its original state. Highlights and ink spin a web of trails across the country, circling some of the special places I have enjoyed.

I consider a starting point and my finger traces along the road to see how far I have been. Like a maze, though, I follow the path only to remember how I had turned back to find another way. I recall those trips. Sometimes I had become lost. Other times, a rabbit trail took me off the planned route.

Backing away from the table, I look at the map from further away. Overall, it seems I have not traveled to many destinations I had meant to visit. Some of my friends have shared wonderful stories of their adventures to those places; places for book releases, successful sales, or awards.

On the table beside the map is my Bible. Pen and highlights mark the pages. Corners are folded and some pages are glued together from sticky fingerprints. It is well used. Flipping through the thin sheets, I can trace the journey of my life through this map, too.

With a sigh I take a closer look at the journey of my life. Am I disappointed? A little. The map shows trails I had not been meant to travel. There were times I walked shortcuts through dangerous terrain, daring the darkness to overtake me. And there were times I followed the direction of people I should not have listened to. Yet although I have not traveled to where I had wanted, or to where I thought I wanted, I have discovered some exciting and special places I will never forget. And I have had wonderful companions on many of my adventures.

My eyes shift between my marked map and my marked Bible. I overlay some of the onion paper with highlighted Scripture onto my worn map and see how God has spoken to me throughout my journey. God’s Word has provided teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training. On the rabbit trails, He gently showed me His truth that redirected my path. In the dark times, He provided protection and comfort, encouraging me to make better choices in how and where I traveled. When I was lost, God’s light shone on the path He desired me to follow.

Both my map and my Bible look tattered but are filled with who I am, and who I desire to be.

I close my Bible and gather the map, once more folding it along the ever-thinning creases. The result is an uneven bulk of paper. It does not look like it was meant to any more than my journey looks like I meant it to look, but it is still what it is. The map reflects my past and reveals the place where I presently find myself.

I tuck the map into my Bible, ready to continue my travels, wherever the journey may take me. I try now to depend more on God’s map than my own, so I am sure to discover delightful company and destinations, all of which will provide new marks on the map - my map, that tells my story. This is the story I write about and share.

 

“Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”

(Psalm 119:105 NASB)

Read about Marnie's journey on her blog, Phosphorescent.

Mugwumps on Tightropes by Marnie Pohlmann

The spotlight rises along a pole that towers above even the highest row of seating. The circle of light stops to single out a lean, muscular man in shapely tights who stands on a small platform at the top.

  

He picks up a long pole and strikes the pose of a ballet dancer standing on tiptoe with his other foot raised, toes pointing to another platform some distance away. As the audience holds a collective breath he lowers his foot to step off his perch. He then lifts his secure foot away from the safety of the platform, standing for a moment in what appears to be air.  There is no net beneath him. We let out a deep sigh of relief when we notice a translucent wire connecting the platforms on either side of the center ring.

The performer feels the thin wire with his toes, carefully placing one foot in front of another. His eyes look ahead to the far platform. Standing on one foot he sways, the wire shaking. The crowd gasps.  The pole he holds appears to unbalance him and we wonder why he carries such an unwieldy tool. Wouldn't stretching his arms wide provide a less awkward stabilizer?

The tightrope walker reaches the middle of the wire and pauses. Suddenly, he twists around to face the way he came and takes a few steps back toward his starting platform. Then he pauses again and turns once more to continue the path he began.

Again, he spins to change direction, seemingly undecided which direction to walk toward. He walks back across the wire, which dips low in the center. Finally, he spins once more and goes forward, quickly now, almost running, in the direction of the far platform. He climbs from the middle of the wire to safety.

Setting the pole on the platform walls, he turns and lifts an arm in triumph. The crowd erupts with cheers.

The Christian life can seem like a tightrope. We start out confident, leaving our past behind and stepping out in faith onto the narrow road God has laid before us. One step at a time, we choose to live radically for God.

Then, difficulties come. Children, work, illness, finances, and a myriad of other struggles begin to interrupt our life. We lose our balance. Without habits that bring stability, like personal time with God and prayer, we begin to lean left, then right, almost falling and confused as to which way to turn.

Moses warned the children of Israel about this very circumstance.

"So be careful to do what the LORD your God has commanded you; do not turn aside to the right or to the left." (Deuteronomy 5:32 NIV)

At times like this, we are in danger of not only falling but of becoming a mugwump rather than a strong, confident disciple of Christ. A mugwump is the type of Christian who has their face on one side of the fence, and their "wump" on the other side. They cannot decide which side to commit to so swing back and forth like the tightrope walker, not knowing which direction to go.

After all, some of the Christian life is attractive but so is some of the life we used to live. Sometimes it is simply easier to live on one side, and other times it is easier to live on the other side, so we go back and forth.  Making changes in our daily life choices, our relationships, and our own character to become more Christ-like is not easy!  Scripture tells us,

"Don't go back to worshiping worthless idols that cannot help or rescue you--they are totally useless!" (1 Samuel 12:21 NLT)

The tightrope walker shows us that when we put one foot in front of another, we can go forward. Yes, the way is narrow, and sometimes we find ourselves in a valley with a slope to climb. If we look at our feet, we become afraid or confused and lose our balance. However, like the tightrope walker, we must keep our gaze on our goal and then we are able to see our eternal destination rather than the dangers surrounding us.

Scripture, like the circus performer's long pole, gives the balance. When we struggle to maintain balance in life we need to become unbalanced - completely dedicated to God by holding tightly to His Word. To onlookers, this may not appear to be an effective method when it is really what helps keep our position stable. When life tips this way and that, maintaining our relationship with God, concentrating on the character of Christ, and listening to the prompts of the Holy Spirit, will grow us strong enough to fly along our earthly journey like an eagle soars.

Will you, as Joshua did, make the choice to point both your face and your feet toward God?

"But if you refuse to serve the Lord, then choose today whom you will serve. Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served? Or will it be the gods of the people in whose land you now live? But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord." (Joshua 24:15 NLT)

Choose to live radically for God – a step at a time. As you make your way, a great audience of witnesses and angels are cheering.

God,

As I make my choice to follow you, strengthen me to not look to the right or the left. Protect me from the temptation to serve old ways. Your way is narrow like a tightrope yet I trust you to make my feet secure. Guide me safely to You. Your spotlight may not show the thin wire clearly along the way yet I will still take one step at a time, and as I allow you to guide my steps the path will become clearer as it says in Psalm 119:105, "Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path."

Amen.

*Photos courtesy of Amy Jasper with her family, having fun as they balance in high places.

Marnie is quite unbalanced these days, feeling like she is slipping off the tightrope of life. However, as she keeps her face and feet toward God, He continues to guide her steps.  Read at Phosphorescent how God's presence in her life helps in the scary times.

Construction Zone Ahead by Marnie Pohlmann

living the dream

A few years ago, my husband and I celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary by taking a 30-day motorcycle trip. We started by riding from British Columbia through Alberta to Saskatchewan for our son's wedding festivities. Then we meandered down to the United States, through Montana, across Idaho, along the Oregon Coast, up through Washington's Okanogan County and back into Canada's Okanagan Valley. We then headed over to Vancouver Island to celebrate the wedding of friends, and back north to home in the BC Peace Region.

We saw beautiful scenery, encountered both sun and storms, rode in highway traffic and secondary road serenity. We experienced good days and bad days - just like 30 years of marriage has ups and downs.

stop light in the middle of nowhere

Another kind of encounter we had on our trip which is like marriage was traveling through construction zones. On busy highways, traffic was reduced to one lane. In the middle of nowhere temporary stop lights directed the sporadic flow of vehicles over a single-lane bridge. 

Road to the Sun

On top of Montana's "Road to the Sun" in Glacier National Park, workers were repairing the twisty, narrow highway, and with the heavy fog and rain of that day, it appeared they were hanging off a cliff on the edge of the world. Some day we need to do that Road to the Sun in the sun so we can see the grand vistas that were hidden by the weather.

slip sliding along

Closer to home, in the Pine Pass, we road through slippery, deep mud. Thankfully, the flag person waved motorcycles to the front of the line, just behind the pilot car, so we did not have to contend with the flying mud and wheel ruts left by the trucks in the long line of impatient vehicles.

There are not many trips we have taken when we have not come upon a construction zone. Funny how we remember those short times of inconvenience more than we appreciate when the road is clear and smooth.

When I think of construction zones I see a picture of the out-of-my-comfort zones of faith, writing, and life in general.

Construction zones seem to be everywhere throughout our travels. Out-of-my-comfort zones also seem to be everywhere. Parenting, healing, moving, new jobs. My whole life has been filled with uncomfortable times, often when I am in a construction zone of faith. Like construction zones, out-of-my-comfort zones can be found during the quiet and the busy, in the lows and the highs, in the light and the dark of life. I seem to notice them more than when I’m traveling along in a comfort zone.

motorcycles use extra caution

With all those areas of discomfort, I wondered if I have ever actually been in a comfort zone. What is a comfort zone, anyway? Perhaps there are no rules to comfort zones. No boundaries, no limits, no timelines. A comfort zone for some is being alone, for others, it is being with people. For some, it is being Martha and for others, it is being Mary. Each one is different. So, if comfort zones are so varied, can we really be out of a comfort zone? Perhaps comfort zones are just good roads with a few cracks starting. So when we feel out of our comfort zone we are simply in a comfort zone that is undergoing construction.

Construction zones may be a delay, a short detour, or a rough and muddy section. The delays of construction indicate better roads ahead so our future travel will be smoother. Being out of my comfort zone is also a time of construction, building in me a skill and a will for something still to come.

Many years ago, part of my Administrative Secretary Certificate college course included a class on public speaking. Why would a secretary need to learn to give speeches? Yet each week my classmates and I prepared and presented Toastmaster-type monologues. Years later, that time of skill building provided direction for me to navigate some of the expectations of being a pastor's wife - giving a devotional at a baby shower, speaking at ladies’ meetings and a retreat, or leading communion and impromptu prayer times. And these out of my comfort zone times are preparing me, perhaps, for a future adventure of author readings.

The journey from shame-filled young woman to introvert but stepping out in faith woman took much construction, many delays, and more than a few detours. When I think of times where I felt out of my comfort zone, in hindsight I was not truly out of my comfort zone, because God had already paved the way, preparing and training me for the next section of road.

As a meme on Facebook said, "Sorry for the inconvenience - I am under construction." Still. My life is a never-ending out of my comfort construction zone. Praise God! The adventure of my ride in life continues.  How is your adventure? Do you trust God to pave the way?

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light on my path.

Psalm 119:105 (NIV)

Writer-biker Marnie lives her life under construction in northern BC. Travel the road with her at Phosphorescent, her blog about absorbing and reflecting God's light on the adventures of life.

Walk Like a Postman by Marnie Pohlmann

Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. - Psalm 119:105

I’m sure I first learned to walk in order to keep up with my brothers as they played with a toy I wanted, but it was my father who taught me to walk with purpose.

Dad was a postman, and on summer vacation, I was occasionally invited to walk the mid-morning portion of his route with him. I wanted to, because it usually ended in a treat from the ice-cream bicycle we would meet along the way. Dad walked fast, though. He had to cover a certain amount of ground. Sometimes I ran to catch up, but soon I learned to walk quickly alongside rather than dilly-dally along the way. No matter how hot the day was, no matter how heavy his mailbag, no matter how grumpy the dogs along the way, Dad walked with purpose to get the job done.

As young as I was when I learned to walk like Dad, I haven’t seemed to translate that physical walk to my spiritual or writing journey. I still wander all over the landscape. My trail of small size six footprints meander along, climbing around the mountain of my life. I may be going higher and higher, but I sometimes pause to play in the mud or flowery dales alongside the trail, forgetting I need to move forward. Occasionally I go to the edge of the path to look down on the valley below. Each circle of the mountain provides a different view of the same past. Each one closer, perhaps, to how God views the events of my life from His eternal perspective.

Looking back along that trail I can see points where steps I took led me into new territory that would be life-changing, though I seldom realized it at the time. One such step happened when we moved from small town living into a city.

I don’t remember how I found her number, but I screwed up the courage to phone. I spoke with Linda Wegner, leader of the local Inscribe writers’ group in Saskatoon. I asked about the next meeting. A few nights later, this small town introvert was driving along unfamiliar streets across a big city to a stranger’s home to meet people I did not know. I was not even sure if I should be in their company! These were writers!

(At this meeting I also met a writer who was a Professor at a local Bible School in Saskatoon. Later that year, when life changed our path again, my husband started his journey to ministry at that school.)

Half a dozen years later we left Saskatoon and I was heartbroken to leave the friends in the His Imprint writers’ group. When I settled into my new home, I put out word I was starting a Christian writers’ group. I need and enjoy the connection, the encouragement, the instruction, and the spiritual support. And I find much of what I need in my new Inscribe group in Northern British Columbia.

I am not published as much as some of the writers I have been privileged to meet along the way, but I have been inspired to be purposeful in my writing. I am encouraged to be purposeful not only in the practice of writing, but in the sharing of that writing. I have contributed monthly to this Inscribe writers online blog for over a year now, and this past February I started my own blog as well.

I'm learning to write like a postman walks.