Once in a while a book comes along that grabs my attention and causes the light bulbs to come on.
‘A Non-anxious presence’ by Mark Sayers is one of those books.
In it he describes the world we are living in as the grey zone….the space between the passing of an old era and the beginning of the new.
After all, the agricultural era didn’t end on a Tuesday and the industrial era begin on the Wednesday! There was a space in-between, in the middle, where things were grey and difficult.
It seems to me that this not only describes where our world is at right now but where many of us are at personally.
We are in the middle, we are in the land between, there’s a sense of the old going but the new not quite arriving and it’s a difficult place.
Sayers commentary on our current cultural moment resonates deeply with me, he asserts we are characterised by more conflict both physical and verbal, rapid change, confusion, chaos, contradictions and above all….chronic anxiety.
Could anxiety be more than merely personal but even systemic?
Could we be living through another pandemic….anxiety?
Yet within all this there is hope….
This is ‘nothing new under the sun’ when you look in the rear view mirror of history. In these grey zones, these middle spaces, these land in-betweens there is much to do and much to experience.
Here’s a few ideas, I’m sure you have more, I’d love to hear them….
In the grey zone listen….to your deepest fears and to God’s deepest promises. Maybe the grey zone sums up life for you right now? He promises to never leave us or forsake us, He promises to be peace that guards our hearts and minds like a sentry on duty, that’s the original word for ‘guard’ in Philippians 4 v.7, unflinching, immovable and unshakeable. He promises to work all things together for our good, He promises that we are not at the end of our story.
In the grey zone learn…we instinctively want to retreat to what we know, the systems, structures can I even say strongholds that give us security and assurance and yet God is doing a new thing. The grey zone can be the growth zone!
Hey leaders, if you’re not learning you’re not leading….
In the grey zone look….for colour, it’s all around us if we could just see it. Lives transformed by Gods power and grace, a growing hunger in people for the transcendent, a dissatisfaction with what was and a desire for what could be and what should be. I sense a slow but steady awakening of the dreamers and the darers, people not just asking why? but also…why not?
The grey zone is difficult, demanding, at times disorienting…
But there is life in the grey zone, seeds of renewal, green shoots of promise and more than a few hints of heaven….
Would love to hear what you see and sense right now?
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