DAILY DOSE OF HOPE – BLOG – NAIMA LETT
WHEN LIFE’S A CIRCUS
©Cirque du Soleil, photo source
Ever feel like life resembles the Cirque du Soleil rehearsal pictured above?
You’re balancing, one leg up, while hopping from back to back of colleagues who are trying to jump rope, half-bent, simultaneously?
Yes. That just about sums it up.
Welcome to the great balancing act: family, faith, career, bills, health, school, friends, perform, jump, jump, jump!
Yet, we pay lots of money to go to the circus. Why?
Because the artists have spent thousands of hours mastering their balancing acts, and we gain inspiration from watching them defy all odds to make it to the end of line and somersault off into a Perfect 10 landing. Maybe we can do the same? Figuratively, of course!
What may be even more amazing than admiring the performers’ ability to balance is understanding that many of them consider the circus to be one of the most stable, balanced lives ever. Really?!
I recently met a talented former circus performer who now lives in our City of Angels. She described her time in the circus as the most stable, consistent time in her life. She received a steady paycheck (of which most went directly to savings), lodging and living provisions, and a built-in family on the road.
“We had it so good,” she reminisced.
Fascinating! I had erroneously assumed that life in the circus was indeed… a circus. Not so!
Could it be the same with our own lives?
Could things sometimes look like a circus, but are actually more stable and balanced? Or maybe things are really imbalanced and crazy, but because of our faith, we don’t have to get all out of sorts with the circumstances? Is it possible to live between the tension of daily balance and imbalance without completely becoming undone?
I’m reminded of Apostle Paul’s letter to the Philippians in which he encourages his readers repeatedly to rejoice in the midst of their circumstances. Towards the end of the letter, as Paul thanks them for sending aid for his ministry, he also explains that he has learned to live in contentment, no matter what’s going on in life. In other words, he’s learned to balance the circus. (My interpretation :=)
Philippians 4:11-13
…for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do all this through Him who gives me strength.
Paul says the secret to being content in any and every situation is recognizing his dependency on Christ. Pretty cool.
So whether life feels like a circus (jump, jump, jump!) or it’s a time when “We have it so good!”, we can remain steady as we find contentment through our dependency on our Lord.
That gives me so much hope!
What about you?!
Your fellow high flying trapeze artist in my dreams,
Naima