messy spirituality

I would like to add two words to our vocabulary of spiritual growth: stuck and unstuck. Most Christians consider stuck a sign of failure or burnout, an indication that a person isn’t working hard enough on their spiritual life. Being stuck means getting an F on our spiritual report card. The hidden assumption is, “If you are stuck in your spiritual life, you aren’t doing something right, because dedicated Christian should never be stuck.”

Nothing could be more untrue.
Actually, getting stuck is a prerequisite to getting unstuck.

Getting stick is a great moment, a summons, a call from within, the glorious music of disaffection and dissatisfaction with our place in life. We get stuck when we want to change but can’t, when we want to stop destructive behavior but don’t, when the tug-o-war between God’s will and ours stands still and we can’t move. We’re stuck going nowhere, unable to get beyond a particular point.

Getting stuck can be the best thing that could happen to us, because it forces us to stop. It halts the momentum of our lives. We have no choice but to notice what is around us, and we end u searching for Jesus. When we’re stuck, we’re much more likely to pay attention to our hunger for God and the longings and yearnings we have stifled. Sometimes being stuck is the low point and we say, “Okay, I give up.” We cannot grow without first giving up and letting go. Getting stuck forces us to see the futility of our situation and to put life in perspective so that we can move on.

- Messy Spirituality, Michael Yaconelli, pp. 92, 93