A Unique Process

At the risk of sounding like every self-help book that I usually roll my eyes at, I avoided the title, Discover Your Process, but that’s exactly what I’m hoping this blog series will help you do.

Everyone’s lives are different.  You may see a situation as occurring in one way, while the person sitting next to you perceives specific details in a completely different light through a completely different set of experiential lenses.  What you might be bored by makes another person light up and they can proceed to go on and on for days about why it is actually interesting, likely with enough knowledge on the subject to write a book (and I would highly encourage them to do so).  What you might see as trivial, another person sees as crucially important.  What one person can say flippantly and without a second thought can actually create anxiety and chaos within the mind of the person they off-handed the comment to.  Perception is everything and, most importantly, it is as unique as a fingerprint.

Therefore, the question I’d like to pose to you is this:  How is your process different?

I’ve explained a bit of my process throughout these posts, and, while I hope you found some usefulness for the previous content I shared, I also know how important it is to discover what makes you and, by extension, your process unique.  What works for me in sorting through anger, grief, anxiety, joy, and even what God is teaching me cannot be exactly what works for you.  It would be counter-productive for you or I to assume that we could just copy, paste, and call it “processing”.  Mine changes on a near daily basis and my needs when it comes to processing are often determined by the circumstances of the day, so how could I expect yours to be an exact and functioning replica?

God created us in his image.  He designed us with intricacies that even we ourselves are unaware of.  All too often, I think, I limit God because of what I can see in myself and forget that he has the full picture of who I was, am, and will be.  Wow.  That sentence came out of nowhere and even I am taken aback because of how powerful it is.  Why would I limit the God who knit me together so specifically for whatever it is he can see that I can’t?  And, if you think about it, because I am made in his image, it makes sense that the full picture would never be realized.  It would be idiotic of me to assume I can know every facet of God, so why would I also assume that every part of this image bearer could be realized unless it is discovered with God’s help?

I honestly believe that our individual processes are hugely unutilized tools God gave us to understanding him and his creation.  If we as unique persons can choose to use what we’ve been given, we will no longer go a day without growth toward the people he wants to shape us to be.  It would be remarkable to watch if God’s masterpieces were no longer bystanders in their own reality, hoping and praying for God to move without being useful and cooperative partners with him in fostering change.  Remember Jesus’ Parable of the Talents?  The king took away the talents of the servant who did nothing with them.  Jesus doesn’t care how much fruit you produce with what he seed he has given you.  The king didn’t care that the one who was given ten talents didn’t bring back 15 or that the one who was given five only brought back five more.  He cared about the growth, however big or small.  The one who brought him nothing was the one he was disappointed in.

Your process is the means by which God can drive you forward into all he has for you.  Use what you have, what God has uniquely placed within you, and don’t despise meager beginnings.  Your process is called a process for a reason.  Don’t fear it.  Don’t look down on it.  And never stifle it.  Grow it.  Nurture it, and it will produce lasting fruit.  The process opens up a world of possibilities for God to help you discover where he wants all the pieces of the puzzle that makes you.

So… What’s your process?

Thank you for joining me for this processing series! I hope it was helpful in some way