The Forces that Impact You
Aarin Harper
Family, faith community/group identity and culture are forces of impact that Timothy Sanford considers in Chapter 2 of, I Have to be Perfect and other parsonage heresies. Picture these 3 forces in ways that move from the closest to us, family, to the farthest, culture. Maybe you see a target with a bulls eye as yourself, or a rock being thrown into a pond, creating concentric circles, with the sinking stone at the center as you. Or maybe you think of closest to farthest as levels of connection or intimacy. May be you see a hurricane and you are the eye. However you see the three forces, any one of them can feel risky to discuss at this time of tumultuous change and politicization of just about everything.
Tim, once again in his teacher style, asks us to expand our scope and see a broader view. See if you may be defining your experience as all bad or all good. Once you can see the good and the bad of the impact experienced from these forces, consider; Do these forces impact us permanently? Can we level ourselves, repair and rebuild? This is not, “No Demo Reno”, like the HGTV show by that name. This renovation requires demolition, the removal of walls, and the amount of renovation is determined by the impact delivered by the force.
Tim asks us to see the bad and the good in each - this doesn’t mean that because there is good and bad that these are equal. It doesn’t mean if there was, or is, good it cancels out the bad - or vice versa. We have an opportunity to look through the lens of honesty to assess the forces and impact to our person.
Tim uses the analogy of records (or vinyl) in a vintage jukebox to represent the themes and thoughts that we play and replay in our heads. Some of these records are warped or scratched, some not, and they’re created by the forces of impact. The good news is that these records can be reshaped, re-recorded, so that the messages are true and clear.
The forces that impact us can leave us feeling unprotected,, vulnerable, and sometimes demolished. Other forces can leave us refreshed, renewed, and restored. Our lives usually have a mix of both - join us in recognizing and working through the forces that impact us at LifEdvice, learning to live life well !