Breaking the Cycle

There is no greater feeling than realizing a perspective of life that could help you through the bad days. I’ve had bad days – I’m sure you all have – and finding a remedy for that, not meds, is HUGE. Let me tell you about it.

My husband and I recently watched a show – I didn’t realize it until I was talking to my therapist, that the show is what inspired this thought process. In the show, the participants are stuck in an endless cycle – a simulation that is only broken if they give up whatever they are holding onto. A simulation that they will only escape from if they shift their perspective from what they know, to what they don’t. 

It got me thinking – isn’t life like that? So much of what we do is an endless cycle. This world is an endless cycle – we are not created for this cycle, we are created for eternity. In the garden, Adam and Eve had access to the tree of life. It wasn’t until they rejected God’s power and wisdom that they were not able to eat of the tree of life. Then, the cycle began – death entered the world. 

So now we have stuff – stuff that cycles over and over again. Doing the dishes – it never ends. There are memes about how often we clean the house, do laundry, etc. etc. It gets even bigger than that though! Jobs – making money. You realize that the money you’re making now will disappear, only to be replenished again? It will continue to be the same cycle. 

One day after losing our first baby to a missed miscarriage I was very down. I remember getting ready for bed and asking John “Does it ever feel like Groundhog day to you? It just keeps happening over and over. The same old thing.” He then responded about my mental state – maybe it wasn’t a good mental state. He was right! The way I was viewing the cycle was wrong – I was seeing it through the world’s eyes, through the Devil’s eyes.

You see, this cycle we have could be depressing – or it could be energizing. Let’s think about another side of this – can anything break the cycle?

When you hold your child in your arms – does that repeat itself? That conversation you have with your spouse before they leave for work – will that ever happen again? What about worshiping with the saints last Sunday morning, will you ever have THAT experience again? These are the actions that break the cycle. But why do they break the cycle? Because God has placed HIS nature – HIS love – into this broken world. He has given us a way out of the endless cycle. 

In reality, if you realize the truth behind it, those “endless cycle tasks” that keep repeating itself, they hold a purpose! They fuel opportunities for more eternal things. The longer we are on this earth participating in this cycle, the more chances we have to have that conversation, to seek the glory of God, and to realize his never-ending love. Think of it as storing up treasures of heaven – things that this earth will never break. 

Are you breaking the cycle, or are you just a victim of this never ending world?