Thriving or Just Comfortable?

What differentiates a thriving life from one spent suffering?

In yesterday's blog, I listed the 5 categories identified by the authors of "The Five Essential Elements of Wellbeing". Their list resulted from extensive polling of people across the globe for common denominators of well being and includes:

• Career Wellbeing: how you occupy your time -- or simply liking what you do every day
• Social Wellbeing: having strong relationships and love in your life
• Financial Wellbeing: effectively managing your economic life
• Physical Wellbeing: having good health and enough energy to get things done on a daily basis
• Community Wellbeing: the sense of engagement you have with the area where you live

They note that only 7% of people experience well being in all five areas simultaneously.

Certainly, two months ago when I experienced MAJOR and simultaneous losses in each of these areas, my sense of well being DID plummet. I felt like a modern-day version of Job. While I didn't sit naked on my front yard, tossing ashes on my head (for which my neighbors thank me), I reeled under the sudden earthquake that ripped a physical, emotional, psychological, relational, and financial fissure in the ground of my being. Surely it measured at least an 8, maybe an 8.5 on the Richter scale. Enough to topple all but the most earthquake-resistant structures dotting the landscape of my life.

In the aftermath of the quake, while pushing through the rubble, looking for signs of life, the foundations that remained firm are noteworthy amidst all the rest of the devastation that included friendships comprised of matchsticks; finances and health insurance made of particleboard, and my identity based on the "straw bricks" of title and task. The main structure that stood, and it had some serious cracks, was my relationship with Christ.

Where was signs of life amidst the rubble?
What structures stood firm?
What rubble needed to be cleared away to begin rebuilding?
How could I survive on the outskirts of town in a tent? Would there be "enough" essentials to maintain life?

Amazingly, the structure that seemed the most ravaged of the five, that of physical wellbeing, was the one that attracted my attention. Why I focused on that pile of rubble instead of the more easily-fixed options, I don't know. And so, even while I had to navigate carefully to avoid further collapse in the other areas, I began the arduous task of removing rubble, small wheelbarrow after small wheelbarrow, day after day, in order to clear the ground for rebuilding. Two months later, I can see clear ground, and have begun nailing together the framework for what promises to be a lovely cottage replacing the condemned building that marred the landscape before the earthquake. Were it not for the earthquake, that rotting, rat-ridden structure would probably remain as a crumbling blight.

And while I began the process of rebuilding my physical wellbeing, Somebody came alongside and began resurrecting the other structures too. While I was at my loneliest and most bereft, God revealed to me, in a dazzling and unmistakeable communication of grace, that God has plans--amazing blueprints-- for rebuilding in the areas of Career, Financial, and Community WellBeing. The plans are drawn and construction is underway and humming along. He's the Foreman on those buildings, and all I have to do is stay out of the way!

Oh, and God showing up, well, that miraculously and instantaneously rebuilt the Social Wellbeing Structure. A love relationship with God creates a stunning mansion.

I would argue with the authors that they've identified the five elements that lead to a thriving life. I think they lead to a comfortable life. Jeus said to take up a cross and follow him, AND he also said that he came so his followers could have life abundant. I can only conclude, based on his teachings and on my experiences, that sometimes it takes a little, or a lot, of suffering to topple our man-made constructs, so that God can rebuild something glorious amidst the ruins.