Order is nothing but a friendship with chaos. Order provides the stabilities that we crave, but chaos creates the opportunities for change that we need.
~ Abhijit Naskar
The Gift in Chaos
Rev. Berry Behr, Interfaith Minister
It was winter, and my life felt broken, shattered dreams everywhere I looked. I was invited to join a day trip to the nearby mountains for a 4x4 adventure. I didn’t want to go, but I went anyway.
Halfway up the mountain, motorists stop at a rustic stone office to pay the trail entry fee. While my companion was paying, I joined the restroom queue and was surprised when a lady greeted me by name. She looked familiar, but I could not reach through my anguished fog to the context of a time and place.
She asked if I still lived in a town I had moved from more than a decade before. The fog lifted slightly. I said no and asked if she did. No, she had moved with her family to the United States and had just returned for a rare visit. I was excited for her adventure and congratulated her, but my stranger-friend looked thoughtful and said slowly, “Well, I don’t know. Sometimes, you make a decision in life, and if you knew what the results would be, you would never have made that choice. And yet, within the chaos, there are always blessings, lessons, and gifts. In the end, there is always that to be grateful for.” Then her friends called, and she left with a friendly wave.
Kim’s words felt like a miracle. It seemed as if Spirit had sent her across the world, two hours beyond the city and halfway up a mountain, just to deliver a message that would give me comfort and reassurance when I needed it most.
I’ve come a long way since then. Now, I look back with gratitude for that difficult time because it led me to where I am now. Through any challenges I have faced since, it has become my practice to look for the blessings, lessons, and gifts. Somehow, they are always there. I am transformed with gratitude again and again and again.
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We, the authors of this blog, dedicate it to the transparent exploration of the world’s sacred scripture and enlightened spiritual thought. We believe that the original inspiration of all faiths comes from a common source, named and revered in a myriad of ways. With that understanding, the innumerable symbols, beliefs, and practices of faith cease to divide. They become open windows to a common reality that inspires and unifies us. We find deeper insight and nourishment in our own faith and from the expression of faith from others.
We hope these weekly quotations and meditations speak to your heart and soul.
Thanks Rev Berry, for your wise and thoughtful words. I resonate with this message, and am so deeply grateful for the seeking of my own soul for this order and chaos, moving me along in the river of Life, to the ocean where we all belong.
Many thanks, Rev. Behr. I recently read a quote that the “universe has shaken us to awaken us.” Surely the shaking may often feel like chaos and yet awakening is the key to knowing spiritual purpose and acting upon it. WITH YOU in letting chaos be the fertile field for change where being shaken is welcome. Sending aloha from Oahu. Love, Tom C.
Thank you, Berry. Yes, even the chaos in the Middle East right now and in other parts of the world can be a useful learning experience and an opportunity to intensify our radiant service to the body of humanity,
Thanks so much Berry! This is such an important life realisation. My dad died suddenly whilst overseas when I was 25, in my 5th year of medical school training. I was devastated, particularly as I felt I’d only months beforehand that I’d started to connect with my dad as the adult version of me.
About 5 years later, it dawned on me that my dad gave me a gift in dying that he couldn’t have done by living. The depth of the grief I felt, and the inability of the medical staff who were entrusted with my care to demonstrate they understood what I was experiencing, was a wake up call, as if he was saying to me “remember there are things that touch a person’s heart and impact them deeply for which medicine has no answer”. I have learnt to be more humble as a result.
Whilst that’s now 50 yrs ago and I feel sad not to have shared my adult life with him, I’m so grateful for that gift, which I hold dear.
Over the years, I’ve come to welcome chaos as an exciting time of new Divine design emerging. I’m thankful I can’t see what’s coming forward, as it’s so often way more beautiful than I could imagine. The skill is to recognise that this is the Divine creating something new and wonderful, and to enjoy the ride!
5 Responses
Thanks Rev Berry, for your wise and thoughtful words. I resonate with this message, and am so deeply grateful for the seeking of my own soul for this order and chaos, moving me along in the river of Life, to the ocean where we all belong.
Many thanks, Rev. Behr. I recently read a quote that the “universe has shaken us to awaken us.” Surely the shaking may often feel like chaos and yet awakening is the key to knowing spiritual purpose and acting upon it. WITH YOU in letting chaos be the fertile field for change where being shaken is welcome. Sending aloha from Oahu. Love, Tom C.
Thank you, Berry. Yes, even the chaos in the Middle East right now and in other parts of the world can be a useful learning experience and an opportunity to intensify our radiant service to the body of humanity,
Thanks so much Berry! This is such an important life realisation. My dad died suddenly whilst overseas when I was 25, in my 5th year of medical school training. I was devastated, particularly as I felt I’d only months beforehand that I’d started to connect with my dad as the adult version of me.
About 5 years later, it dawned on me that my dad gave me a gift in dying that he couldn’t have done by living. The depth of the grief I felt, and the inability of the medical staff who were entrusted with my care to demonstrate they understood what I was experiencing, was a wake up call, as if he was saying to me “remember there are things that touch a person’s heart and impact them deeply for which medicine has no answer”. I have learnt to be more humble as a result.
Whilst that’s now 50 yrs ago and I feel sad not to have shared my adult life with him, I’m so grateful for that gift, which I hold dear.
Over the years, I’ve come to welcome chaos as an exciting time of new Divine design emerging. I’m thankful I can’t see what’s coming forward, as it’s so often way more beautiful than I could imagine. The skill is to recognise that this is the Divine creating something new and wonderful, and to enjoy the ride!
With many thanks, Berry
Thank you Berry – so beautiful!!!