walk on.

Earlier today I was having a conversation with one of my good friends, during which some phrases came up that we have both had said to us - either subliminally or directly. And, it got me thinking about the art of burying issues through maintaining the 'stiff upper lip' we so often associate with being British.

However, some of these phrases don't stem from British, but American culture. They are:

'pull your boot straps up'
'get over it'
'whatever'

I know that I have used the above phrases within my vocabulary - probably the most frequently used is 'whatever', which I actually detest. I find all of the above phrases a brush off, and a rather immature way of dealing with life. To hear someone address you with a "whatever" is basically saying "I'm not interested in what you have to say". To hear someone say "pull your boot straps up" is, in my opinion, fickle and somewhat ignorant. To hear someone say "get over it" is equally as condescending.

The reason I say this, is because I believe everything is a process. There is no 'quick fix' to anything and more often than not, when something is taken through a 'quick fix' process, it is a botch job with a very short shelf life. If the process is a long one, then so be it -- at least what is produced is something which holds substance and longevity rather than something which will withstand about a week's use. Am I making any sense at all?

When I did my year out (DNA), we heard a phrase banded around continually, which was "embrace the process". In all honesty, the more I heard this, the more I wanted to vomit.

I knew it was true, yet I had grown accustomed to just 'getting over things'. It says in 2 Corinthians 4 v 16 that 'our spirits are being renewed every day' - the key word being 'renewed'. It doesn't say that "we have a new spirit, bang, done, that's it".

It's a process.

Life brings with it, situations, which require us to walk them through. Life doesn't offer 'quick fix solutions'. When we are faced with tough situations, God isn't calling us to say 'whatever' to them... He's not calling us to 'pull up our boot straps' because that makes it about US rather than HIM, He's not calling us to 'get over it'... because more often than not, we don't actually deal with the issues.

He is, however, calling us to acknowledge Him in everything we do. He is calling me to acknowledge my need for Him, the need to walk things through, the need to be changed and daily renewed and to align my mind and heart to His.

There's no "getting over it" involved. Sure, we are called to step away from sin, from mindsets and from a path which would distract us from reaching the prize, however.. the race is to be run, we're not able to just hop over the finish line. It takes perseverance, commitment and an acceptance of 'embracing the process'.