back at the amusement park...
lessons from the rollercoaster
I’ve had a few more retreat days at the amusement park this summer, wandering and wondering with God while my kids are off with friends. On a recent visit, I found myself sitting with my notebook at a shady table just below Diamondback, my favorite rollercoaster.
As I watched the trains of Diamondback ascend and descend over and over, I was reminded that sometimes we call life a rollercoaster, with it’s ups and downs, it’s twists and turns.
In life, we want to go up and up and up. Downs feel scary or like failure. Twists are unexpected and disorienting. But what if, like on a rollercoaster, it’s an adventure? An opportunity to grow? To face something hard and be better for it. We typically want to avoid life’s downs and twists. But on an actual rollercoaster, the down is the adventure, the part we’re waiting for.
A rollercoaster would be boring without the downs. No challenge. No exhilaration from facing your fear. No growth from conquering something new or what felt hard.
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A month or so ago, my pastor shared a life update at church. He introduced a new chapter for his family by calling it their next adventure and then went on to explain that his wife has cancer and that he’d be stepping back from some of his day to day responsibilities as he steps up to care for her as she undergoes treatment.
In the rollercoaster of life, most of us would consider a cancer diagnosis to be a down. A definite twist, at least. But my pastor called it an adventure. Not one that they would have chosen, to be sure. But still, an opportunity to step into something hard, to experience God in new ways, to be formed through adversity.
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As I continued to watch the rollercoaster, I noticed how the first big hill is the momentum creator. It enables the train to face the downs and twists and turns. I wondered if the highs of life are what prepares us for our downs?
Maybe in the seasons of life that feels like ups, where things are calm and we’re moving forward, it’s time to prepare for the downs and the twists. Maybe it’s time to put in the reps, choosing God, receiving His love, listening for His voice, growing to know Him more. We’re getting ready. Building momentum.
And then when the twists come we can trust Him. When the downs arrive we can let Him carry us. We can lean back and be held, trusting Him on the adventure.
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And may you encounter the God who loves you as you make space in your schedule and your soul!