Eat Pray Love

"We all want things to stay the same. Settle for living in misery because we’re afraid of change, of things crumbling to ruins. Then I looked around this place, at the chaos it has endured – the way it has been adapted, burned, pillaged and found a way to build itself back up again. And I was reassured, maybe my life hasn’t been so chaotic, it’s just the world that is, and the real trap is getting attached to any of it. Ruin is a gift. Ruin is the road to transformation.” - Eat Pray Love

I know it's not a bible verse and I know it's not the most biblical movie but it speaks volumes to how we tend to process in our lives. The place the character was speaking of was called the Augusteum. Octavian Augustus had built this incredible fortress to house his remains. When the barbarians came they trashed it along with everything else. How could this great emperor have known that it would lie in ruin along with all of Rome. That the world would change that much. I wonder if you can relate to that as much as I did. We build walls, fortresses to preserve and protect our hearts, our homes, our marriages, our children, ourselves. No matter how much we try to self preserve, we are sometimes our own worst enemy and we fail to realize that we ourselves have shown the barbarians the way in and they come and trash us. They trash our world and everything around it. The fortress becomes a desolate, lonely, quiet place of ruin. 

I have known this place friends, and it's a really hard place to be. It's also the sweetest place of growth and learning and blessing others. I love how this quote talks about the chaos this place has endured, the way its adapted, burned, pillaged and finds a way to build itself back up again. God loves messy people. Look at the disciples. Look who he chose to surround himself with as He walked this earth. They were people whose lives, whose "fortresses" had been burned, pillaged, ransacked. Can you relate? The difference is we do not build ourselves back up again, God takes our crazy, our chaos and uses it to build us into the original design He created in us in the first place. 1 Peter 5:10 says this "And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you."

Don't miss that, it doesn't say after we celebrate a little while, after we are joyful a little while, we do get to be all of those good things but we also suffer a little while. The God of all grace, who has called us will restore, confirm, strengthen and establish us. Amen. Any of you need any of those wonderful things? How about a little restoration for your ruins? How about confirmation that He has called you, that He is at work in your life, that this is not a coincidence? Strength…yes please. And establish us, set us on firm ground with good soil.

So, this quote is so true. The world is chaotic and the real trap is getting attached to any of it. Chaos can be very attractive. Chaos can even feel comfortable. Chaos can make us complacent. And all these can lead us to ruin in one form or another, but remember ruin is a gift. Ruin is the road to transformation. As always, remember to reach up to God and reach out to community.