Roller Coasters


Rollercoasters.  Not a fan. I guess when I was in my tweens I would’ve characterized these rides as exciting, thrilling, stimulating. Something changed. No more interest in them until I became a Mom. Secretly, I secretly wished my daughters wouldn’t enjoy them but at the same time glad their Dad would offer to take them on the scandalous rides. I would watch, praying for physical safety and that the experience wouldn’t emotionally scar them for life. Thankfully it didn’t. Today. I have no use for amusement rides.

Yet I think the real reason I’m not interested anymore is because my life feels like a roller coaster ride. Uncertainties, twists and turns and new situations to adjust to. Sometimes I think I personally hold the world’s record for the amount of roller coaster rides I’ve been on. The data is clear.  Moved 23 times, saw husbands through 14 job changes, held 29 different jobs over the years. Been through divorce, survived physical and sexual abuse, became a step-mom and lived through the death of both of my parents. Stress of starting a new job, packing and unpacking, adjusting to a new community, being a working mom, or the typical uncertainty of what tomorrow brings financially.  Life is like a roller coaster.  It has its ups ad downs.  But it’s your choice to scream or enjoy the ride.

I’ve done both. I’ve done my share of screaming and I’ve also chosen to enjoy. Screaming when you’re coming around a bend may be a great way to vent your feelings and feel good momentarily, but I’ve learned it really doesn’t solve anything. Instead, you just wind up exhausted. The other alternative? Enjoy? Yikes !

Some of you love roller coasters and view them as the great adventure. I’m happy for you –really.  Enjoy ! But for me, my deepest desire is for the ride to be over – and soon. As I grow in understanding what God has done for me through His mercy, I’m more and more convinced that having a firm grasp means we get to choose. Circumstances can define us or we can let our response to our circumstances define us.  
What if roller coaster rides are just part of the sanctification process? Phillippians 2:12 says: Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling. 

Can I enjoy the ride?  What do I expect? From life?  From myself?  From others? From God?  I think that we can’t rest until we release our expectations and fall into the arms of the one who understands us more than we understand ourselves.

As I go through life’s ups and downs, I recognize that I have never been on these rides alone. The great empathizer and healer, God, notices me ad holds my hand. He whispers to me that He DOES have a crystal ball, that He DOES know what’s around the next bend, that He DOES know my fears and hopelessness. Matthew 11:28 says Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  

Does enjoyment involve rest?  Can you have a firm grasp though facing life without a loved one?  Can we enjoy the rest of our aging bodies? Can we enjoy the rest during a terminal illness or rejection? Can we really choose how you want to experience this ride? 

God wants to get closer to you. Perhaps He does that by putting you on a roller coaster ride. Yet we could approach the whole thing with a different mindset. 2 Corinthians 10:5 states: We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

If rollercoasters describe life, then life is risky. Risk involves choice. Risk involves movement.  Risk involves rejection. Risk involves change. Risk involves rest.

 Enjoy the ride !


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