Disorientation

We had an interesting conversation at my small group Tuesday night about city life. Caelyn Randall started the ball rolling as she talked about the disorienting influences that confront us when we live in the city. We then talked about the things in peoples' lives that might reorient them--being a part of a group, for example, or a person's vocation. But then people started talking about how sometimes things in city life that may seem disorienting (like sirens or traffic noise) really can make us feel at home. Some noted it's when they're in remote and quiet places when they really feel freaked out!

Seemingly disorienting things, then, can make us feel oriented, connected, home. I like that. I think God does, too. The Message translation of Genesis 1:1-2 goes like this: "First this: God created the Heavens and Earth--all you see, all you don't see. Earth was a soup of nothingness, a bottomless emptiness, an inky blackness." From the beginning, then, God created life out of disorientation.

On days (even weeks) when I feel out of sorts and/or aimless, this is comforting to know I can orient myself around a God who thrives on creating amazing things out of disorientation.