“We interrupt your regularly scheduled programming …”
I guarantee you that growing up I always heard this at the most inconvenient time. It was during the crucial conversation of a favorite show or the last play of the game that I was looking forward to all week. Interruptions, by their nature, don’t always come when planned. They are true to their definition of breaking the continuity of continuous process of an activity. Interruptions alter plans, cause you to change directions and adjust.
Did I say that interruptions come at the most inconvenient time?
This has been my interruption:
“Sheila, we interrupt your regularly scheduled programmed life as goer and a giver with this breaking news: Sit down, be still and receive.” The two most difficult things for a giver and a goer to do.
For the last month, I have had to slow down, be still and receive. And no, it never comes at a convenient time. Never. It meant a change of plans, letting go, re-positioning and adjustments. But this life interruption taught me that I need to go through a review lesson on receiving.
“Gracious acceptance is an art — an art which most of us never bother to cultivate. We think that we have to learn how to give, but we forget about accepting things, which can be much harder than giving. Accepting another person’s gift is allowing that person to express their feelings for you. “ – Alexander McCall Smith
The only way to learn how to receive is … to receive.
Receiving gives the giver an opportunity to be a channel of blessing. One of my students told me bluntly, “Ms. Spencer, you’re always saying that it is a blessing to give, so why are you blocking my blessing when you won’t let me give to you?”
Receiving reminds me that I am not in control. Not that I ever really was in control. I have learned the importance of being part of a community that supports and loves. Receiving is another reminder that we need each other.
Receiving gives you the opportunity to deepen relationships. My friend told me today that I am such the committed giver that I need to take the time to step back and let others reciprocate. He reminded me that receiving gives you a glimpse into someone’s heart. It is a way that you can learn more about someone.
“The great thing, if one can, is to stop regarding all the unpleasant things as interruptions of one’s ‘own’, or ‘real’ life. The truth is of course that what one calls the interruptions are precisely one’s real life — the life God is sending one day by day: what one calls one’s ‘real life’ is a phantom of one’s own imagination.” – CS Lewis
I realized that instead of viewing it as life interrupted. It should just be life. Life is naturally full of changes, twists and turns that come along with the journey. Maybe interruptions can be detours that turn out to be the tour that we needed to take to learn the lesson.
What if we viewed the interruptions as a continual part of life? Interruptions can be interventions that are nothing that we planned, yet just what God scheduled. This unexpected interruption has given me the space to pause, reset, heal and reflect.
Maybe it’s not life interrupted … maybe it’s just life.
Blessed to be a blessing to you,
Sheila P. Spencer
Sheila P. Spencer, M.Div. is an writer, educator and speaker. You can contact her at CustomMadeInspiration@gmail.com
