Holding Tension: A Facebook Series

The following words were first shared on my personal Facebook timeline. Your comments, messages, and likes moved me to bring them here. Holding tension is big part of building a sacred life. The biblical encouragement to stand firm, hold fast, and press on draws our eye to the pull we feel between the world we are in and the world we belong to. We are in our homes, cities, and the global community. We belong to the kingdom of God. I hope these short reflections bless you and keep you grounded.

Part One

The tension we hold looks like kindness in the face of accusation, moving forward regardless of fear, breathing deeply with a breaking heart, or starting something good that’s easy to put off. It’s a strength that we hold in our bodies and tell our minds, “I have what I need to do what I need to do.” Hold the tension until you see the end or feel proud you did what you could. You’re not who they say you are. You have options/choices. Pain doesn’t last forever and you will see the goodness of God soon enough.

Part Two

We hold tension when we love. We speak into one another’s life to bring healing and affection. There’s always a chance that vulnerability will not be received, but we take the risk anyway. Taking the risk to love is a sacred tension to hold. Jesus shows us that.

Part Three

“But he knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold. My foot has held fast to his steps; I have kept his way and have not turned aside.” (Job 23:10-11)

Can you see the sacred tension in this verse? The knowing. The trial. The renewal. The holding fast to him. The faithfulness. It doesn’t explicitly tell us about the pull we feel to be better known by someone else, to short cut our renewal, or to find a more socially acceptable stance to take. We don’t need it, do we. We feel it every day. It helps me to remember that getting rid of it is not the goal or the answer. Patient endurance with joy is what makes it.

Part Four

Around the table of emotions I welcome Anticipation, Grief, Excitement, Nerves, and Gratitude. Each of these feelings arrives as a fragment of 2021 wrapped in grace, reminding me that God was close all year long. My lifes and spirit is unimaginably complex and I don’t want to slice it to pieces for the sake of plastic peace. It has a long shelf life but never grows. Tension of healing holds the fragments together like a rubber band as I wait for the peace that flows free and deep into the cracks of my character. The peace that changes my mind, prompts me to forgive, soothes my grief, and redirects the joy I find in selfish things. A peace that integrates the fragments of 2021 making me wholly better. Jesus is this peace and his Spirit flows freely and deeply.