Stability

 Stability

Theology in the Trenches

by Kathleen Kjolhaug

I like that word, stability. It’s deep. Stable, foundational, something solid, dependable, formidable are perhaps other words that could be used to describe it. It’s used to describe many areas of life from the home front, to the mind, to personalities.

As I reflected upon this word as it applied to our married lives and our living space which included six kids, I realized that there were many things my husband and I intentionally lived out in order to maintain some sense of stability within our home. Right off the top of my head…I thought I’d share a few.

1.      For starters, we chose to stay put rather than run helter-skelter when the world beckoned. No doubt we both wanted to run like the wind at times because crazy begets crazy in the midst of the muddle…and we chose to stay put.

2.      We didn’t run away from one another…off into the deep just because we could. He returned to me when I was half craze. Likewise, I returned to him when his stability seemed more like boring stubbornness. Truth is he wasn’t boring. Looking more closely, he exemplified rich faithfulness topped with just enough contentment to offer stability to the likes of us all.

3.      We chose the same address for the whole of our married life just because it’s a place that is near and dear to family history…offering a view just across the road of all who’ve gone before us…our last name etched in stone upon many. It worked well for us and when the kids choose to return for a visit, the memories percolate offering sweet savor and respite from the world at large.

4.      Stability was within our hearts as we sought truth in a world that screamed anything but. It remained a solid foundation from which we launched each of our brood so in like manner; they too will be able to teach stability of truth generationally. His unchanging Word is the only constant in an ever-changing world.

Stability comes in another form as well. As Demetrius Dumm, OSB has stated, “Stability has far more to do with honesty than it does with one’s zip code.”  Stability is where you are at any given moment within your thoughts, within your heart. Actions are an overflow of that which is within and soon it produces fruit...or not. When we fall short due to lack of stability in one form or another, He invites us home once again. It’s called forgiveness. It’s called grace.

David fell short and looked quite unstable a time or two. Yet, this very David was known as a man after God’s own heart. Deeply he exemplified how to live stability. What did he do? He turned from his sin. What sin did he turn from? He turned from murder and adultery to name a couple. How was he able to return to stability once heart boundaries were crossed? He was able to return because he turned from his sin and was truly sorry for what he’d done. He not only showed remorse but sought forgiveness.

I don’t believe perfection is what the goal is in life as we are made perfectly imperfect. Rather, the ideal is to foster a heart that desires to not only turn but to confess. Once forgiven, there is freedom which will produce fruit. The fruit will be sweet. It will be full of “love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Gal. 5:22-23).

 

Fruit stabilizes the least of these…and I for one am grateful to have a stable platform, namely Him, from which to launch. The best part is that you have the exact same platform from which you, too, may launch. After all, He’s the Rock, and it just doesn’t get any more stable than that. Amen.