Our Social System 4 - Stuck ...

Friday, August 20, 2010. Do you feel stuck sometimes with your life and your social environment? Not everything works well in our environment or with our own plans. Often things are not moving forward and this can be extremely frustrating.

Where do you feel stuck? …

There are many things where we can feel stuck. And many of us feel stuck or are stuck indeed. When I look back into my past, I realize many things where I was stuck for quite a while. It took up to ten years, until things moved forward finally. Some things are directly related to our social system, others only indirectly.

Some of us are longing for a partner. The whole thing seems to be completely stuck. For years we try to meet someone, but nothing is going forward. Every time we are attracted by some person, he or she is either married or not interested at all. Our state with partnership will strongly influence our view on life and on our society. It will strongly interfere with our relationship to God as well.

Some of us are stuck with their marriage. Things seemed to work for some years, but then they got worse and today nothing seems to work any more. Marriages are always a challenge - with two different characters living closely together, with challenges in terms of finances, in particular when you have kids.

Some of us are stuck with our job. Things seem to be static, not moving forward. There might be problems with our boss or other important colleagues or people in our firm or institution. Perhaps we are not in the job we trained for or the job we would like to have. We feel misplaced, and we do not see a possibility to change that. Finding the right place for everyone is one of our central social goals, but often we leave it to chance and leave the single person alone with the problems arising when supply and demand do not fit each other.

Where does God lead us? …

First it is important to realize that indeed God is there and wants to lead us. He wants to be with us in the middle of our life, in the middle of our society and in all of our challenges. The New Testament shows a God who is deeply concerned about our life, about all difficulties we face and about our goals and dreams.

Second, he wants us to be happy. It is not a happiness which would be separate from his existence, but a happiness which comes from him and his presence. It will also be a happiness which finds its physical, mental and emotional needs met! We might not find the needs met immediately all the time. But they will - that is one of the key promises made in the bible many times: “I will be with you!” - “The Lord is my shepherd.”

Can we develop visions, ideas and steps for our own life and for our community? What are important steps to go? That is a question which is given to all of us. It is not only single people who will determine the path we go, but many with their preferences and decisions. God wants to be with us, to lead us into a good direction. We will need his wisdom, his guidance and his insight into our own nature. We need him, the source of life, to be our center and our goal. We will talk about these visions during the next two weeks. ... more texts