Day 6 of 40 Days of Story: What is calling you out of your Status Quo?
All great stories start with disruption…including yours. What’s calling you out of your status quo?
Stories start with upturn–disruption is built into its very design. In story structure it’s called the inciting incident. Something happens to our dear protagonist to shake up the status quo. Suddenly life as he or she has known it is no longer possible.
Now our story gets going. Our main character is off on a quest to try to gain a new equilibrium. There’s something he or she wants or needs and must go and get it.
In the movies this disruption comes from an outside force. And in real life it usually does too. It takes a divorce, a job loss, an illness to shake up our own status quo. But on occasion disruption doesn’t have to entail external drama. It can be a tiny stirring for more that we let grow large.
If you have a stirring for more pay attention. If you have an external disruption don’t let that be wasted.
Yesterday I shared with you about one of my favorite status quo seasons: life in Colorado. Yet, disruption came. It came in the form of a job loss. The division I worked for couldn’t make their business model work and my new story started with a layoff. I was in shock.
Then disruption did its magic. It thrust me on a quest I would have never pursued on my own. This quest has entailed setting off to Cuba to direct a documentary series; journeying through the Middle East and Europe to interview refugees; shoving my belongings in storage for almost four years; living off of savings until savings were no more; co-founding two companies and I’m still in the midst of upturn. I remain unsure how this story will play out…how a new equilibrium will be established. But I can’t resist being thankful for the loss of status quo.
So friends, what is calling you out of your status quo? As I said: If you have a stirring for more pay attention. If you have an external disruption don’t let that be wasted.
I look forward to hearing.
“I think this is Anita’s job.” These words were spoken by my daughter in law to my son.
My son was on the phone and telling me this story. He had been talking to someone at camp meeting from World Gospel Mission about a missionary coach position and he determined this was the perfect job for his mom.
I must admit it seems like my dream job. It was one of those “above and beyond what you could ask or imagine”. This job that I never applied for but came to me was like a dream.
They even allowed me to stay pastoring and running the immigration law clinic while doing it. I could have my dream and status quo at the same time? Heaven!
About 6 months in, I began to realize that I was in a very unhealthy place. I was exhausted. I was praying for God to give me direction and I found a quote from a friend on Facebook: “You can’t be stubborn and resilient at the same time”. It hit me like a ton of bricks. I had to let go of status quo. Resilient became my ‘word of the year’ for 2018.
We were getting ready to do our camp meeting tour through the Southeast that whole summer as representatives of WGM. Every stop was another step of surrender. Why is surrender so slow? Why is it coming in small increments? I kept moving forward, one step at a time.
Status quo is harder to give up the older I get but when I look at the missionaries I coach and how they are so free from possessions and free, it inspires me to continue this journey of letting go.
I love that you are getting us to think about our Status quo, Tamara. Especially as I find myself with a big change in my own status quo since the company I’ve worked for the past 5 years has recently lost funding. It was a shocker. A change in status quo can be scary and lonely, but I also find it to be incredibly fun and exciting to see what God may have in store next. I just watched a Ted Talk about Starting with Why, and I so want my next status quo to be just the right “why” for me. Lent is a perfect season for this journey, and your blog is the perfect guide. See you tomorrow 🙂
Beth, I’m so grateful to get a glimpse of how graciously and courageously you’re moving through the upturn. So inspiring! I can’t wait to catch up tomorrow. Huge cheers! Tam
What is calling me out of my status quo?
I once had a dream where I was awarded time and a coveted seat on stage with a superstar. Upon arrival, Superstar greeted me with a charming smile, but he wasn’t alone. He had a carbon-copy of himself standing quietly inside the doorframe of a small room just off the big staging area.
Superstar had tens of thousands of fans screaming for his presence to finally be revealed, but Carbon-Copy had only about ten waiting inside the room for him. Superstar was calling for me to hurry up and join him while Carbon-Copy waited patiently for me to make up my mind where it was that I wanted to be. I was caught in the middle, looking back and forth between the two until finally, I decided I couldn’t resist any longer. Curiosity got the best of me, and the pull was simply too great to resist. I turned and walked straight into the room filled with the ten.
There they were, gathered tightly around their master and looking down at a map of the world he held in his hands. On the map were hundreds of tiny little pinpoint dots connected by faint lines. There were a few large footprints stamped across the map as well. Confusion must have shown on my face, for Carbon Copy looked me directly in the eyes and said with a gentle, yet confident voice, “Some will tread lightly in the world making small connections everywhere they go. But others, though they seem to make fewer connections, will have a much larger footprint and greater influence. How you view the world, will determine the type of imprint you will make and the depth of impact you will have.”
It’s this dream that is calling me out of my status quo, making me question how I view the world and my time in it. What kind of mark(s) will I make, hundreds of tiny little connected dots or a few major footprints, or how about a little of both?