One writer’s blog I follow talked about claiming your superpower. It was kinda fun. I pondered the idea, and then moved on. The question that actually came to me was simply this:

What if I am up against a superpower and I just need to back away?

Let me explain.

There are times we all become a crusadin’ fool for things that we care about. We have a pet project and that’s all we blog about, talk about, or want to do. And though our family and friends are SICK OF IT, yet we keep on.We pursue what we think is the “right” thing to do, digging in like it’s going to be a WAR, BLAST IT.

Sometimes, though, it really is time to stop and reassess.

Is it worth it? Are you convinced that you have the golden hermeneutic on this one? And maybe, just MAYBE that brick wall you’re hitting is something you can bounce off of and move on?

Don’t get me wrong – it’s good to have passions. It’s important to consider what is most important in your life, and then support it with your time, energies and even spare change. But sometimes — when the world keeps turning and I’m the one standing there, dug in with my fingernails and toenails leaving a stream of protests in the unchanging tide… is it time to move on?

But then there’s the question of Faith…

I have this almost irrational belief that God can and does do the opposite of what we expect. Or as Gracie Allen said, “Never place a period where God has placed a comma.” As a chaplain I see this all the time! There’s the  car accident victim half-dead upon arrival to the Trauma Room, walks out of the hospital a few months later. There’s the longevity of a patient with a cancer diagnosis with “less than 6 months to live” that is still laughing years later.

That Yiddish proverb is true: Man Tracht un Got Lacht! (Man plans and God laughs!)

There are times when I feel like the cosmic dominoes are stacked against me… and the God acts and I am not only pleasantly surprised, I am amazed. And so thankful.

So instead of claiming a superpower, or trying to force God’s hand as I pray and watch and wait, I’m learning to hold things loosely and to celebrate each moment. It doesn’t mean that I don’t struggle or question what in the WORLD God is doing… it’s just that I know eventually, I WILL understand.