Secret to living with uncertainty

I have had the privilege of working beside a youthful teacher at school where I help out. She has so much enthusiasm and wonderful ideas that at times bares much fruit for her students. There is two prep classes in the school, and at this late stage in the year it is very clear in the children's behavior, levels and abilities, the pure application and effectiveness of the teachers methods. 

The year is coming to a close, very fast, with a few weeks taken up with activities and not much classroom contact time. This is leaving a cloud in the air about the uncertainty of the year to come. How will it unfold, will the challenges that are presented currently be the hurdle that needs overcoming or is it just the start of a series of events to unfold a challenging year that lays before us…. 

I often think we live in a society that is built on uncertainty, one that embraces the doubt that uncertainty causes, using it for capitalism; there is a certain amount of fear attached to it. We would like to know what, when, what time, how long and who with. We want to ensure our security, our health and futures - just look at the multi - billion dollar insurance business that exists purely based on these uncertainties. 

Maybe the secret to living with uncertainty is all summed up in one word 'Faith'. After all faith is not about easy answers or even solving our uncertainty; rather its is about finding courage and wisdom to live with uncertainty. Faith can help turn uncertainties into blessings, it is the building blocks to making our faith even stronger. 

A few years ago I spent a month in the beautiful city of Venice, where I spent hours walking, sailing and sitting in cafes overwhelmed by the beauty that I was witnessing.

Venice is one of those places that instantly bring to mind images of romance, mystery and beautiful architecture. Although Venice is not that big, you can wander past the same place a million times and see something new and beautiful about it. Etched into my memories is a canal, standing on a bridge seeing random buildings floating on water in the middle of nowhere including a church and going to St Mark's Square to listen to the orchestra while the water slowly rises as high tied approached. 

The buildings are thousands of years old, built on soil that is watery and muddy - lagoons. I recall visiting this one particular church that was built on thousands of wooden poles that move with the tide. Those movements counter balance one another, keeping the structure high and intact. The very shakiness keeps the structure standing!! 

As I sat in that church I remembered thinking, this is me, with all the shaking it keeps me standing. A gentle reminder to embrace challenges, embrace the unknown as it will only result in bring me closer to truth. It reminds of me in the Psalms "valley of the shadow" the crises that is brought through uncertainties, challenges that allows us to see that God is truly with us. It sharpens my vision, helping me refine and grow my faith, separating the 'wheat' from the 'chaff' or the scared from the mundane. 

In Venice there are many bridges, that connect lanes, buildings and brings everyone together. I think that faith is like this, life is uncertain! It resembles a rickety bridge that we walk across in faith - our faith is the ability to do so, faith that the bridge will hold, faith that God beckons us from the other side. 

When all else seems too much, we should stop on the bridge and listen, just like in Venice when the lights of the city turn off and all the shops close, you can lie in  your bed and not hear a sound except for the lapping of water on the canals. 

Its so incredibly peaceful!