The Pansy in the Pavement
The question is often asked: Is it possible to thrive and flourish in challenging environments? And, if so, how is it that some people find a way in seemingly difficult circumstances to do well, while others find themselves struggling to move ahead?
Last year we were given the tremendous blessing of time away at some friend’s rental property in a beautiful part of the interior of British Columbia. While we were there I was stuck by the sight of a perfect, thriving pansy, standing alone. It was not in a well manicured and fertilized garden, but on the edge of a parking lot, somehow growing up out of the pavement. A pansy in the pavement. Not exactly what you expected to see. Somehow this delicate, colourful, inviting flower had found a way to push up through a crack and burst forth into life against all the odds. I felt drawn in by the mystery of it; healthy and flourishing. I noticed it each time I passed by it, finding myself pausing to ask the question: how is it doing so well?
I have witnessed this play out in the lives of people around me, especially during the past two years. Some individuals flourish while others struggle. At times, people that I thought would flourish in hardship were struggling, and people that I thought might struggle were doing well, and were by all accounts thriving. If you are looking for a few helpful ways to give God space, so that through the ministry of his Spirit, you can experience a flourishing in the pavement places of life, here are some practices to invest yourself in that will allow the Holy Spirit to build resilience and spiritual strength into your life.
Self Care - This is a partnership between you and Jesus. Jesus is 100% invested in your journey and caring for your soul. Likewise, you also must be committed to caring for yourself as a whole person; body, soul, mind and spirit. Self awareness is a threshold to spiritual health and renewal in our lives. Self care also involves making healthy choices, living well, and loving yourself for who God made you to be.
Spiritual Hygiene - Both you and those around you know when you are practicing good personal hygiene. You may not know, or be aware of this, but others can also tell when you are practicing spiritual hygiene, as well. Spiritual hygiene is all about choosing to live clean, being in right relationship with God, others and yourself. Spiritual hygiene involves the regular practice and rhythm of confession, forgiveness and repentance. It is choosing not to have secrets with God or people that can eat away at you, or haunt and harm you from the inside out. It is about living wide open with God, or as Norman Grubb says in Continuous Revival, to live with “walls down and roof off.” Spiritual hygiene gives rhythm and opportunity to take stock of your life and spiritual journey and to do the hard work with God of renewal and inner soul wellness.
Spiritual Disciplines - Spiritual disciplines are practices that give shape and rhythm to your spiritual journey. These practices are helpful in connecting with God, to go deeper into Him, experience His presence, and receive His love. These practice include, but are not limited to:
Bible Reading, memorization, and meditation
Silence and solitude
Prayer
Listening Prayer
Spiritual Friendships
Worship
Journalling
Fasting
Self-Examination
A couple of good reads on the topic of Spiritual Disciplines:
Robert Mulholland Jr. - Invitation to a Journey
Dr. Rob Reimer - Pathways to the King
Community - Unlike the lonely pavement pansy we need community. We were made for community by a God who exists perfectly in community and loving relationship with Himself (as Father, Son, and Spirit), and invites us into fellowship, and intimate, life-giving relationship with Him. He also invites us and calls us to be in community with others, but not just in community, but to live in unity of relationship with others who are also following Him. It is in community that we are best able to walk out our journey of faith as followers and apprentices of Jesus. Community is where we put into practice that which we have encountered in the private place of renewal and intimacy with the Lord.
Community is so critical for those who are wanting to flourish and thrive in these days. Intentional community with two or three other people in which you each are known and loved, vulnerable yet accepted will be life-giving and authentic. This takes time may come at the cost of comfort, yet growth is always just beyond the boundaries of discomfort. Push through with the right people in spiritual community, and this can be transformative in your journey and theirs. How community looks may be different for each person, but what is important is that you make the choice to engage in and embrace the opportunity and challenge of community. It is in the forge of community where we are refined and challenged, but also known, embraced and cared for.
Rest - One of the things that Jesus clearly offers in the gospels is rest. However, we actually have to choose to rest. Rest is meant to be done in the absence of doing what you normally do, and in the awareness of Christ’s presence in your life. Regular rest and healthy rhythms that include sabbath and recreation are important to our journey and to our thriving. If trees require winter as a season for rest before the growth and vibrance of spring blossoms that lead to the production of summer fruit, how much more do we require regular rest in order to live well and have the Holy Spirit produce good fruit in our lives? Find ways and times to rest. Prioritize rest. You are the only one who can prioritize rest in your life. Where do you need to experience rest, and how can you increase your awareness of Christ’s presence in that area?
Gratitude - Gratitude is one of the great pathways to joy in our lives and to living well. Those who are are grateful and live with gratitude as a posture and disposition of their souls tend to live with more hope and a greater tendency to look for and recognize the goodness fo God in the circumstances that they find themselves in. Gratitude has an unusual way of changing the perspective through which you view any situation or circumstance that you find yourself in.
Gratitude is a choice
Far too often we give too much attention to the difficulty, struggle, challenging circumstances, and deficits in our lives, and not nearly enough attention to the things that we do have, the blessings, and what we have experienced and are experiencing in and with Jesus.
Gratitude is a God-given gift for humanity. When we choose to live as grateful people, acknowledging God’s goodness, faithfulness and role in our lives, then we can begin to view things not just through our human perspectives, but through the kingdom perspective that God has created us to live with and to see things through. When we live in gratitude we unlock doors in our lives that can hold us back from living in the fullness that God has for us. Gratitude helps us to be aware of and acknowledge His presence and it has the ability to shift our affections and attentions off of our circumstances and back onto God and what He is able to do!
True gratitude is something that God can use to reset us and can help us to stay in or come into alignment with God and the reality that He has for us in any situation. Gratitude does not dismiss of diminish our circumstances, rather it gives us another lens to see our circumstances through and helps us to see where God is at in our story and with that perspective we can live well and even flourish even when we feel like a pansy in the pavement.
Knowing when it is time to uproot and transplant - It is also important to note that there may come a time when the circumstances that you are in are not conducive to long term health and viability. It is important to know when it is time to transplant. Take on good and godly counsel when you are considering a change. Pray and ask Jesus what He has to say about your circumstances and about the potential of a change. Whenever you uproot from a situation, job, role, relationship, do so with clean hands and a pure heart, honour all those involved and leave well. When you have make sure that you find a place where you can once again put down roots, grow, thrive and flourish.
At the end of the day, we often cannot dictate the environment or context in which we find ourselves doing life, but we can always choose how we will live in the that place and what we will do with the circumstances that we find ourselves in. Whether you feel like you are in a fertile garden where it is easy to thrive or inhospitable pavement like the pansy, it is possible to live well and flourish as it is Christ who infuses his strength and life into you. Identify where you can see Christ at work in your life, and join him there. And where you are uncertain, ask him to show you how you can lean into what he is doing in you through this season. Prioritize the practices that you find foster your connection with Jesus, or mix things up and try something new. Find what works for you, do that with Jesus, and you will find that you can flourish even when it seems like it may not be possible.
