Words of Faith: Quick fixes don’t work

“Faith includes noticing the mess, the emptiness and discomfort and letting it be there until some light returns,” was on a meme that showed up on my Facebook page this week. Anne Lamott was credited with the quote. I loved it (and fact-checked it, since a lot of what shows up on the Internet is false.)

It is, indeed, a quote of Lamott’s, from “Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith.” Preceding that quote is, “I have a lot of faith. But I am also afraid a lot, and have no real certainty about anything. I remembered something Father Tom had told me – that the opposite of faith is not doubt, but certainty. Certainty is missing the point entirely.”

Noticing the mess, the emptiness and discomfort and letting it be is not a cultural value in the United States. We want to tidy the mess, fill the emptiness and soothe the discomfort as quickly as possible. We use busy-ness, self-righteousness, alcohol and other drugs, over controlling – so many things to hide our lack of control. Many people are acutely aware of pain and disarray in their lives, but don’t know what to do with it, so they try to hide it or control it.

While this need to rid ourselves of the emptiness and discomfort of life is epidemic in America, it is nothing new. The Bible is full of stories of folks who are aware of the pain in their lives, and often try to come up with quick relief and their own plans. Moses asked God to let him die, rather than have to keep dealing with the hard-headed and hard-hearted Israelites. God does not grant that request, and insists that Moses persist with his work. Even then, Moses never gets to go to the Promised Land.

And Job? Job goes for a long, long time with no answers, only more questions and then gets accusations and criticism from his friends. God finally answers from the whirlwind, with questions of God’s own, about Job’s self-reliance. Job is ultimately rewarded for his patience, but it was a tough journey getting there.

Quick fixes don’t work. And a naive certainty of promised happiness misses the point of faith, as Lamott points out. But wallowing in self-pity isn’t the answer, either.

Faith includes noticing the mess, the emptiness and the discomfort, and carrying on. Moses didn’t get the death he asked for, and he didn’t get relief from the mess. He was asked to simply carry on with the work.

The book of Ecclesiastes reminds us that there is a time for everything. And everything includes the mess of feelings and experiences that is life. Death, pain, suffering, weeping, are all part of the human experience, that also includes life, joy, dancing and good health. They are all parts of the whole.

The difference for people of faith is not that we don’t experience the darkness, and at our truest we don’t deny the darkness, but we know that light will break through.

This story was originally published November 2, 2015 at 8:55 AM with the headline "Words of Faith: Quick fixes don’t work."