One of my favorite writers/podcasters/truth-tellers introduced me to the concept of a “yes, and” way of life (her name is Annie F. Downs - go check out her writing or podcast if you don’t already follow her!). She speaks to the heart change that can occur if we acknowledge and lean into what’s true across the full reality of our situations. Both the good and the bad, the broken and the redeemed. This idea has been holding court in my heart lately.


Most of us have an innate pull towards one side more than the other. Some of us fully embrace joy but may miss the deeper growth that comes with engaging the full breadth of our emotions, including those in the realms of sadness, anger, or fear. Some of us, and I live fully in this camp, have greater awareness of the wreckage that can be true of the human experience and have a tendency to miss noticing where heaven is breaking in today.


What would it look like to more fully engage both? To extend our metaphorical hands and be accepting of each holding quite different experiences. The gratitude amidst the grief. The spaces where our souls still feel held back and the ones where they’re sprinting into freedom. 


Yes, this is easier said than done, but leaning into this can allow us to experience more of God since He inhabits the full range of our human experiences. David models this so well in the Psalms when he goes from despair to joy to heartbreak to redemption. For example, in Psalm 42, he acknowledges the current state of his soul by saying “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?”, but then he refocuses to what he wants to do going forward by telling his soul to, “Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him, my Savior and my God.”


I’ll share some examples of what this can look like to start to integrate both sides.


Yes, it was a bit terrifying when my dad recently needed emergency surgery, and I’m so grateful to live in this time of technological advancement that makes it possible for his heart to keep beating at a life-sustaining rhythm.


Yes, I believe I’m following God’s path in work in a way I haven’t before, and I’m still waiting to see how He will provide for my financial needs.


Yes, my energy feels lacking lately, and my body feels more at peace as I’m learning the grace of the gift of rest.


Yes, I see evidence of greater closeness to God and other people because I have more time in my current season of singleness, and I still hope to be married someday. 


Perhaps one of these situations rings true to you as well. Maybe something else is coming to your mind. Yes___________, and ____________. I encourage you to write out these statements for the situations where your heart needs to hold both sides, then to pray over the loveliness which exists in your limits, the beauty that’s still present even in the places that feel broken.

 

Originally Published in Every Little Seed | Awe & Wonder