Yin Yang

Getting acquainted with someone of another culture is always an enlightening moment – not only do we learn of another way of living and thinking, but we gain insight into our own patterns of thought and life.

I’m reading a book about the Trinity written by a Korean Christian whose world and life have been shaped by Yin Yang thinking. In a nutshell, Yin Yang is a both/and way of thinking, inclusive of what we might call opposites. You’re probably familiar with the symbol:


Opposites not only intertwine, but they contain a bit of the opposite within them.

We see a lot of this in Scripture – Psalms 22 and 23; Genesis 1 and 2; 1 Kings 18 and 19 … the life of Jesus: Bethlehem and Calvary, joy and sorrow, silence and speech. Read Ecclesiastes 3 for a poetic grasp of Yin Yang.

Life is rarely clear-cut – mostly a little of this and a little of that, with most of our choices never totally clear, a downside, an upside, to everything.

We sometimes get trapped trying to make the “right” decision. In all likelihood, looking back on our days, it’s not about making the “right” decision, but making a decision, getting on with it, having weighed up all the factors with all the love for life we can muster, seeking someone’s counsel as well, and then, with prayer and hope, going for it, staying with it, modifying it as we go along, adding and subtracting from it as the process unfolds.

Have you pressured yourself to make the “right” decision, maybe petrified of making the “wrong” one? Hoping something or someone will come along and say, “This is the choice to make.” I’ve been there many a time. But no one can tell us, not even God, and no event or circumstance ever makes it totally clear.

We just have to choose as best we can and trust the power of life and love, the power of God, and the goodness of those around us. And in all of it, we will find grace finding us.

Rewrite the Past?

Who hasn’t wanted to re-write the past?

But like a hand imprint in cement, the past is there, unchanging and unchangeable. Like the scars of Jesus. The past can neither be undone nor entirely forgotten.

But if God is at work in ALL things for good, if God can take the cross and all the horror associated with it and channel its terrible energy into salvation for the world, then maybe the past isn’t so severe after all.

Which sets up life for the really good news: we can write our future.

There is always time for new decisions, new attitudes, new choices.

Like the scars of Jesus, our past is our past, but nothing is so terrible, nothing so powerful, that it’s beyond the handiwork of God to channel its energy, negative or worse, into something meaningful and good.

Remember, God is on your side … not merely to please and satisfy, but to make all things new, to use your scars as reminders that God was there, even in the worst of times, and God is with you now, opening doors that you couldn’t open, and creating doors in blank walls, some of which we have to open with faith, hope and love.

Have a good day writing your future and those opening new doors!