If there's one word that reflects our times, it's TURBULENCE, a state of confusion without any order.
If you're like me, just opening a newspaper or a news app today is painful; you want to know, but you don't. Everywhere you look, confusion reigns. What's a decent person supposed to do?
Think about turbulence in air travel.
When you're flying on an airplane, and the pilot announces, "we're expecting some light (they always say 'light') turbulence," what do you do? Do your knuckles turn white from gripping the armrest? Does your stomach churn with every bump and wave? Are you searching for the little white bag in the seat pocket, just in case?
I used to react just like that. In fact, I've been known to sport a greenish hue and lose my lunch more than once.
Until one day, someone explained what turbulence really was.
In a nutshell, turbulence is a term for an instability in the air around a plane. It's caused by winds, air pressure, temperature differentials, nearby storms, jet streams, weather fronts and other atmospheric conditions (https://thepointsguy.com/2017/10/the-truth-about-flight-turbulence/).
Just instability in the air? Not a precursor to an imminent crash? Not pleasant, but normal?
I can handle that. Knowing what I'm dealing with helps, and I find that focusing on visible objects below provides a welcome perspective and calming feeling.
Turbulence is inevitable. A very wise man once said, "Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upwards." (Job 5:7)
Think about that when you're tempted to let turbulence buffet you and throw you off.
It's normal.
Focus on something else: your faith, your family, your purpose in life.
Keep your life in order. Be grounded in truth and goodness.
This too shall pass.