Breaking Through

Breakthroughs are a fact of life.

While they sometimes usher in exciting new understanding, breakthroughs can also correct misconceptions with wisdom that existed all along, but was unavailable. Both types foster optimism going forward, and prove we are not stuck in some predetermined script, but are living a dynamic, organic experience.

Knowing it is possible to overlook breakthroughs, I try to discipline myself to actively watch for them, and then respond.  They often require me to intentionally be inwardly still, expectant, and observant, as well as deliberately act (do something, as in react). Or I can choose to look the other way and let them drift on by.

Clouds part to allow sunny breakthrough. Technology catapults us forward into the unknown, a common type of breakthrough in our current age.  But also, historical figures from the first century are drawing me into a kind of profound human experience that has been discarded or forgotten in the midst of progressive Western civilization.  In this case, excavated treasures of human purpose, hidden by layers of modern reasoning, are brought to light.  My practiced orientations (not altogether wrong, but limited) give way to life-altering perspectives that break through and change everything in profound ways.

Breakthrough indeed!

“Just as the blessings of God are unutterably great, so their acquisition requires much hardship and toil undertaken with hope and faith.”

-St. Macarius the Great (c. 300-391 AD)