Order To Chaos, It's An IMpossible Journey Alone

​Here we are. Our fourth day of the new year. For many of us that means we are four days into our resolutions. And it's entirely possible that just four days in, some of us have already been tripped up by those resolutions.

I get it.

You know, at the heart of many of our resolutions, if not all of them, is a desire to bring order to some area(s) of chaos in our lives.

Maybe it's health chaos. Relationship chaos. Financial chaos. Emotional chaos. We all have areas of chaos.

Do you know where the word chaos comes from? It comes from the Greek word Khaos, which originally meant a vast void or chasm. In Greek mythology, Chaos was the first void from which the universe and all existence emerged.

The definition evolved over the years to identify a state of disorder or confusion, but I think it's helpful when wanting to bring order to our lives to go back to the original meaning of chaos.

And return to the one who first dealt with chaos. The very first words of the bible tell us:

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness.

It's interesting, isn't it, that after God created the heavens and earth, he saw chaos. And God's response to it, he spoke order into the chaos.

I am one of those folks who has repeated the same resolutions from one year to the next. Often from one year to many consecutive next years. And if I'm being honest, that's because I have often counted on the one who created the chaos to bring order to it.

I've counted on me and my own willpower.

This is my observation; people who create chaos are often the worst at bringing it to order. I believe that largely because of a sampling of my own life experiences, but also because of conversations over the years with people, who like me, have lived chaotic lives from time to time themselves.

And so, like me, they go year to year vowing this will be the year they bring order to their chaos, only to end the year with the same old chaos. Often times more chaotic chaos.

I have done better with this the last several years. Or, I should say, WE have done better.

I've done better because I've returned my commitment to bringing order to chaos to the one who first committed to bringing order to chaos. I've returned to leaning into the words of the one who first spoke light into darkness as a way of telling me he will always be here to speak light into my darkness.

I've returned my resolution to make order our of chaos to God. For the bible is nothing if not a story of a God relentlessly pursuing order in chaos, light in darkness.

God watched his son die a chaotic death. God made order out of the chaos of that death three days later.

If you are struggling with your resolutions, if you are struggling to make order out of a chaos in your life, I encourage you to turn to the one who first brought order to chaos.

Maybe you're not entirely sure how to make that turn. In my experience, a great first step is simply acknowledging to God, quietly or out loud, "God, you're much better at bringing order to chaos than I am; I could use some help here. My specialty in life seems to be geared more toward building chaos than restoring order, I could use some guidance."

I have discovered it's much easier to create chaos on my own than it is to bring order to it on my own.

I have discovered there is no better place to turn for help with that order than to the one who first brought order to khaos.

Dark to light. Order to Chaos.

Paths difficult to travel alone.