Vinita Hampton Wright over at the Sojourners blog caught my attention with her article "Life: Interrupted." It's short but profound. She writes:
I've come to believe that one aspect of maturity is the ability to see life's interruptions not as interruptions but as necessary events and journeys. If we think of the unexpected as an interruption, then our attitude will be to get rid of it as fast as we can-so that we can get on with our "real" or "ordinary" life... But most interruptions are not so easily dispatched.
Interruptions are life. The unexpected is simply the life you have but don't yet know about. The wise woman accepts that reality. What does she do with the unexpected, the disruption, the unwelcome call or caller? She engages with it, with everything she has. She looks for the layer of grace and God-ness that is always there, somewhere and somehow. She pays attention and looks for the wisdom waiting to be tapped in the day that has suddenly changed direction.
I am really stuck by the idea that interruptions are life, since I have always treated them as a bother. Recently, my life was seriously interrupted when we had to leave our apartment due to dangerous construction going on in our bathroom. I felt that I was displaced and have "lost" a week of productivity. In reality, the only thing I lost was my routine. That week was just as much a part of my life as every other week. Wright's article reminds me to adjust my attitude toward unexpected changes or interruptions. Difficult as it may be to change my attitude, doing so will make me a more mature person. Time to get to work- being interrupted!
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