Last week I had a first-ever bout of vertigo and the world spun around me.
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To cope I crawled on the ground - even as my senses failed me, I knew for certain the ground was secure and unmoving.
Reflecting on it now - and afraid it will recur - I think vertigo's the perfect analogy for what I'm experiencing in life. In the move from "old normal" to "abnormal" to "new normal" I've lost my balance. Perhaps you're feeling it too.
But really, there has never been a "normal".
So much has always been unexpected, unpredicted, uncontrollable. So we seek stable ground, security: financial, relational, physical. However, the best solution to my vertigo was to lie still in bed and not move and hope it went away.
Routines keep me balanced - but now they're all gone I wonder if they were just another way to metaphorically lie still and ignore the turmoil.
Christianity has been called a crutch for the weak. A long-term metaphor for the Christian God is rock - but don't think stones and pebbles, think bedrock - immense, secure - or a rocky mountain range - a hideout, high ground.
God is better than a crutch - but if you haven't noticed, the world has always been spinning, and I need him now more than ever.
- courtesy of St Paul's Anglican Church, Katherine.