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I want to talk briefly about a concept called radical acceptance. I was reading the first chapter in First Samuel and I was thinking about Hannah and how often she went up to the temple and cried out to the Lord because he had not given her a child. And I think about these seasons in life that we’re in that we didn’t choose. That perhaps our decisions did get us there but the outcome isn’t what we wanted. We are struggling to really see why God has me here in this particular season of life.
And I think one of the things we so often struggle with is looking and recognizing the opportunity that we may still have in this season even though we didn’t choose it or want to be there. And this is where that concept of radical acceptance comes in. I like to use this analogy with radical acceptance.
We’re in the heart of Chicago. We have this beautiful river in Chicago that flows through downtown. And let’s say that you’re out walking along the river walk on a beautiful summer evening and someone isn’t paying attention and knocks you into the river.
Now you didn’t choose to be there, you didn’t want to be there, but you have got to get out. So radical acceptance is saying okay: this is where I’m at right now and it’s all the emotions that come with it, the disappointment, the fear, the anxiety, the upset emotion, that drives you to stay in that place.
It’s saying this is what it is and I may not want to be here but there’s also no guarantee that I’m going to be here forever. And sometimes we get stuck with that roadblock.
And so what does it take to say, alright, in this season, (maybe it’s singleness, maybe it’s infertility, maybe it’s conflict in your marriage) I’m going to radically accept this. And this is not resignation. It’s not giving up and throwing in the white flag of surrender. It’s saying I’m going to accept where I am at right now. I’m going to say it is what it is and then I’m going to shift my perspective to see where God can still use me. To see where I can step forward in the river. It’s saying I don’t want to be here, but I’m here and in order to do that I need to start swimming to get out.
What in your life today can you be radically accepting and looking at the opportunities that God has in front of you and moving towards those recognizing that, like many other options and opportunities in life, this is just a season.