Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Victorious Living

Home
Family, Parenting and Religion
The Humbling Power of Reality

The Humbling Power of Reality

Last updated on: September 7, 2019 at 10:56 pm by Victorious Living

The Humbling Power of Reality 2019-09-07T22:56:56-04:00 Victorious Living

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Reality can be a cold hard truth. Whether we realize it or not, we are constantly living with expectation. We are clothed in our biases and our preferences. And sometimes we want our ideas to be ultimate truth so badly that we go ahead and assume it is. And then, when something happens to definitively reveal how wrong we can be, how out of control we are, it can be devastating. This is why people are in counseling after the Game of Thrones finale. As long as the series continued, there was hope it would end the way they wanted. The reality and finality of the show ending has literally shattered people’s psyches, which is sad on a lot of fronts.

We experienced this recently on a trip to South America. We were flying from New York to Manaus, Brazil. From there, we were taking a small private charter plane deep into the Amazon.

Only, that didn’t happen. Long story short, we were delayed FOR FOUR DAYS.

Misery

As trying as the experience was, there was that one definitive point when we realized we weren’t going to make it in time for the charter flight to the jungle. Our trip wasn’t going to happen. Lots of time, energy, money, and expectation wasted. Or, at least, spent differently than we intended.

We got a second wind of hope when another trip (this was for work) was scheduled for the following week. So, we decided to press on to Brazil and make the trip the next week. Only, that got canceled as well.

It is a long, hard fall from expectations to reality. The cold, firm ground of truth has an abrupt power. After four days of delays, missing luggage, and cancellations, we were feeling it.

Loss of Control

One of the professors at our school gave a bonus assignment to the freshmen this year, asking them to write about their idols. He shared with us that almost every one of them said the exact same thing.

We idolize control.

We think if we can plan carefully, anticipate risks, and work very hard, we can control our circumstances. It is a bit childish. And if you ask us, we will tell you we know we can’t control everything. But boy do we try.

Reality is a humble reminder of exactly how far our control reaches. There was nothing we could do to avoid the delays we faced. Just like there is often nothing we can do to avoid the cancer diagnosis or the sudden bankruptcy of the company we work for. Our responsibility invites us to prepare as much as we can, just as we had done for our trip. But reality is beyond our control. It is all a house of cards. And the sooner we accept it, the better.

The hard thing about our delays is that we somehow felt responsible. Like it was our fault. We started to diagnose all the things we could have done differently. Although sometimes this is helpful, it is always an attempt to salvage our idol – to regain control.

Reality is coming. It is here. We can hide from it, deny it, and avoid it. All of us do, to one degree or another. But it is there. Firm and unwavering. Ready to humble us.

Previous Post

June 28, 2019

Trial by Circumstance

Next Post

July 3, 2019 The Most Dangerous Threat to Your Relationship

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Choices Conflict Resolution Culture Change Emotions Failure Faith Fear Freedom V Growth Healthy Communication Hope Identity Influence Leadership Learn Mistakes Mood Curve Ownership Perspective Power Relationships Self-Awareness Self-Governance Systems Thinking Three Things You Control Transformational Leadership Trust Truth Uncategorized Values Vision

Select a Month January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

I found the Book of the Law in the temple during repairs and wept when it was read to me. Who am I?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Joash Asa Josiah Hezekiah

Books by This Author Books by Victorious Living

See All Titles »