I have been thinking about the term “status quo”. I use the term regularly. The dictionary defines status quo as “the existing state of affairs”. It further calls it “normalcy”. I began to wonder, what does that really mean? Afterall, normalcy for me is likely quite different than normalcy for you. And doesn’t “the existing state of affairs” always fluctuate in our lives? So, status quo must be subjective. It is. It’s not the same for everyone. The condition of status quo varies from person to person; however its connotation indicates that something is commonplace in one’s life.
Overall to me, status quo conveys even keel, or routine. But what if my status quo was based on something else? What if status quo for me was deliriously happy? Why couldn’t that be normalcy for my life? Or maybe the times when peace floods my soul should be my status quo? Whatever we call status quo in our lives is our most common condition. So let’s make that common condition something we really want to have.
Let’s think through this… Okay, we’ll use happy for our example. (we’ll save deliriously happy for special occasions.) If we decide that we want happy to be the status quo in our lives, we are saying that we want happy to be our most common condition. In order to accomplish this, we must first define happy for ourselves. Maybe it’s being able to smile and laugh, or maybe it’s feeling lighthearted and not feeling worried. It would be different for everyone. Then we have to determine what makes us happy. Maybe it’s being with family or friends. Maybe it’s reading our Bible. Maybe it’s walking in nature. Maybe it’s helping people. There could be a million things that make us happy. (I will interject here that the greatest source of happiness that I know is God’s Word.) (Just sayin’)
So, once we’ve defined happy and determined what makes us happy, we can begin to pursue it. For example, being with my family makes me happy, but they live far away. So I could be unhappy because I can’t see them, or I could call them, which would make me happy. Maybe they’re too busy to talk for a long time, I could feel bad about the brevity of the call, or I could be happy just hearing their voice. Maybe I could take a moment and pray for them and that would make me feel close to them – and happy!
You see, we can’t always control circumstances, but we can decide how we’ll respond to them. So if we are determined to be happy, we may need to change the way we look at some things and how we react. Like, I see people who seem to have the attitude, “that the grass is always greener on the other side”. They are usually unhappy. But if they could learn to see that their grass is the greenest, then they would be much happier. We must direct our thinking toward our goals, and not allow worldly conditions to discourage us from reaching them.
Of course we won’t ALWAYS be happy. We could encounter situations that make us very unhappy. It is rather unavoidable because we are in this world. But that should be the exception – not our status quo.
I guess what I’m trying to say here, is that we have the ability, the right, and the freedom of directing our own lives. We determine what goes in and stays in our own minds. So, if we want our status quo to be happy, we can achieve that by the way we think. Is the glass half empty or half full? Can a silver lining be found? Can lemonade be made from the lemons? The answer is — with God, nothing shall be impossible. Our status quo of being happy is available because of God’s ability to provide for us. We can stake our lives on His promises. We can make our ways His ways and make our thoughts, the thoughts of His Word. When we do those things, our “existing state of affairs” will be based on God’s standard. And the most remarkable thing about that is – although God’s standard is an unchangeable truth, its application is totally individualized for each one of us. God is a very personal God. Because of the limitlessness of His love, God is able to treat each one of us like we are His only kid – (and He can even do that for all of us at the same time!) It’s way bigger than our minds can comprehend, but it’s true. We can live our lives with whatever we want our status quo to be by trusting God and allowing Him to work in our lives. You want happy to be commonplace? God can handle that. You want peace? God can supply that.
So, after working this all the way through, I think that I would like to make thankfulness my status quo. Being thankful opens the doors for both happiness and peace in our lives – and much, much more! If we are thankful, we will recognize the things that are all around us to bless us. We won’t miss the important things that go unnoticed by a thankless society. We will see the beauty that is available because of God’s handiwork. And we will appreciate the little things. What a worthy endeavor it would be to make the status quo, the most common condition of our lives, one of continual thankfulness to God!
Let’s try it and see what happens.
Note to my readers: I pray that the existing state of affairs in your life is one that blesses you and enables you to live abundantly. Thanks for reading!