Thinking Outside the Boal

This picture has inspired me for some time as a statement about my life over my decades- my attempt to move from what seems 'normal' to what is a more complete picture of life and circumstance.

In our debate over whether we grow through nature or nurture, we sometimes forget that the way we are may also be more flexible than we suspect.  We are often Fish out of Water as we learn through life's tests.

In recent days this picture has been inverted a bit so that I think I might identify with Jonah when he was 'enjoying' time in the belly of a fish.  (Don't argue with me whether this is true or allegory, I have seen fish and whales that are much larger than a man.)  My point: sometimes we find ourselves in an unusual situation that is 180 degrees from the plan we had for the day.

So here I am, being cryptic, but suggesting that I am in an unusual situation myself.  And I am.  Please begin speculating.  The best speculation would be that I am the unidentified winner of the huge Powerball a few weeks ago.

Say you are a goldfish, for instance, and your life is characterized by going about in routine circles.  How do you manage the bigger fish in your life?  Do you hide, run, challenge, organize?  Do you acquiesce?  Are you naively oblivious?  Are you afraid or bold?  Do you flinch, or bristle?

And then you find yourself in the belly of that fish thinking, perhaps, of all the smaller fish you have eaten along your way.  At least in Jonah's case he got a chance to refocus instead of becoming the meal.  In an ironic twist, Jonah was the human bone in the fish's throat.  (That's outside the Boal.)

I wonder if you might be in a difficult situation.  Does it not release all sorts of thoughts, some negative, some positive and many more that are simply unanswerable in the moment.

Right now I am finding my time in the fish to be wonderfully beneficial.  I am re-weighing my life purpose and my actions in pursuing that goal.  The clarifications during this time digesting all the questions and answers of these days is a holy matter.  And this time is also therapeutic as I am afforded the opportunity to step back and take a good look at myself and others.

I am not so sure I am a prophet like Jonah, but I know I will come out of this experience stronger in faith and purpose, and perhaps a bit stinkier, too.  But I clean up well, thanks to Christ and the team of friends who have my back.

God is present in the moment, for he is outside it all.  Everything that is our world is outside God from his perspective.  Right now I am trusting in that relationship while a few others are in disarray. Life is good not because of our circumstances, but because this life is the temporary one, a warm-up for the final Act.