One of my seminary professors, as I earned my MA in Clinical Psychology, gave us an assignment to try and accomplish. He told us to observe closely, the next time we found ourselves in our family of origin unit, as to the behaviors of each family member, as we reunited from our now diverse adult lives we’ve developed. Mostly, without exception, we all were surprised to see that we adjusted to the family order and personas we each developed as children in that unit. These behaviors were now being exhibited in the original family unit….often time foreign to our outside original family unit personas.

This is called “homeostasis” which simply put, is a rebalancing either or both our early developed need or drive base behaviors. We do it through our lives and often the underpinnings of which, define in some measure our behaviors throughout our lives; with some calibration.

Therapists have been able to build a rather substantial an unending revenue stream by; not only honestly helping someone in unhealthy need or drive status, but also, by exploiting or taking advantage of someone’s maladjustments…for personal financial gain.

David White writes, “In a physiological context, homeostasis is disrupted by what is referred to as a need state, which is an innate need, like hunger. Psychologically, however, the disruption is caused by drive states, which are secondary states built on learned behavior and beliefs. Because they are often triggered by arousal, drive states can cause people to engage in negative behaviors, like over-eating or excessive consumption of alcohol.”

Ok….let me land the plane.

It’s Thanksgiving, I’m walking Bella (my most beloved border collie) and I’m looking at the homes I walk by and imagining their Thanksgiving day. Traditions will be followed by many, some will take time to gather their inherent gratitudes and be blessed. But some may harbor resentment…others may not have such gratitude, or even the ability to recognize it in the midst of their past and present storms. Their homeostasis of their family of origin may be filled with fear and pain…and they find themselves constantly reverting to it because it is the only constant balance they have ever had.

I was blessed, in that my homeostasis of family of origin, was by and large, a positive foundation that I’ve been privilege to build and adjust my whole life….though some adjustments were less than positive, and for some seasons, I found myself out of balance. But I have a foundation, that is built on rock….its not easily affected by the storms of life.

This has been a bit of a heavy dose of mumbo jumbo for folks who like that sort of thing. Let me speak my heart to you.

You are not stuck with the pattern of life treadmill you find yourself on. Your fears, your maladjusted habits, your unmet needs, your disruptive drives….can be made new. Sounds too easy. And by our own steam in our hearts and minds….its most probably unattainable.

I’ve often pondered the simplicity of one of the shortest sentences in the Bible referring to God: “I Am.” Yahweh. The beginning….and the end. The origin of our story, your story, mankind’s story….and the last chapter, how the story ends.

There is another short sentence in God’s Word that intimates further ponderment (I definitely made up that word….get over it).

“Be Still, and KNOW that I AM God!”

Being “born again” is not a physical rebirth, at least not presently; but rather a spiritual rebirth. It is a fresh start on a new foundation…a newly created homeostasis that we can revert to, when the wind and the waves threaten to overwhelm us. It is a life of brilliant balance. Light for our steps…an answer when we seek knowledge and understanding.

Jesus, God’s Son, was crucified, buried….then rose from the DEAD (definitely a last chapter), giving us the ability to receive a new foundation to build upon.

You are not stuck where you are presently.

One of my favorite biblical characters of historical note is King David: a shepherd boy who became a giant slayer, a sinner that sometimes followed his perceived need rather than the path of righteousness, a writer of Psalms….sonnets of his heart), whom God Himself described him as, “a man after God’s own heart.”

This Thanksgiving, start a new story…a homeostasis that will keep you in balance.

Reflect on a shepherd boy’s song of praise!

Psalm 139:1-6, “O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off.

You comprehend my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word on my tongue, but behold, O Lord, You know it altogether. You have hedged me behind and before, and laid Your hand upon me.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain it.”

Psalm 139:23-24, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

Today, be Present-in the moment. Be still…….and KNOW that I AM GOD.

I’ve written of my comfort of walking among the granite stones of remembrance that remind us who are living….its just not a permanent condition. Cemeteries stir a connection from the past to remind us that, we too shall pass. In that moment…in the twitch of an eyelid, we move swiftly through the first death…a gift of Adam that all people of all time agree on whether you are agnostic, atheist, or higher power folks….This absolute of scripture no human can deny.

I am comfortable in black and white dicotemous spaces. It’s clarity and that feels settled.

No place does this powerful message hit me so dead center; as when I sit, leaning against an old gnarled tree and ponder my parent’s graves…and the granite marker that proves they were here and they were my people. It is this place where I encounter face-to-face the sacred. It is a safe place to reach deep…honestly facing who I am in the present and very palpable audience of those who left me a litany of legacy.

I can hear the psalms, the songs if you will, that magnify my memory, and even add clarity to the message given me then by those who loved me…that was not fully understood. A cemetery is a concert, an orchestra of music that is being sung in the presence of eternity.

I was recently in a training class, and the facilitator of the training (I called her professor, as it seemed to inspire her to an even greater desire to teach) asked us to share with the class our favorite song, as an ice breaker-an encouragement of participation.

Mine has been a song I’ve loved and claimed as my “All-Time Favorite Song” since I was a kid. I’ve heard a lot of great songs in my time on the planet….but this one without fail caused me to carefully pick up the needle and rest it on it’s vinyl start over and over again. Now I just have to hit the repeat button as often as I want to sing it aloud with CCR on my playlist.

“Have You Ever Seen The Rain,” by John Fogerty.

Yes…that’s the song that moves me. No real definition why…it just defines something in me.

The pastor this morning declared his big idea in sermonic dissertation as this: God makes Psalms Out Of Suffering.

David, the shepherd turned king, of Old Testament fame was a notable troubadour. He wrote the country ballads of ancient Israel. The Psalms are replete with the words of David’s heart songs…. many of which were cries of despair, followed by praise for redemption.

In Psalm 22, this pattern holds true. “My God, My God, why have You forsaken me? Why are You so far from helping me?” Read it and you’ll see more.

But later in the Psalm, David writes; after all the variations of “ my dog died, my truck won’t start, my girl left me, I’m so lonesome I could cry…”: “You have answered me!”

You HAVE (past tense, declarative) answered me!

Wait, David just wrote regarding his being and mood and circumstance all being regarded as the “dust of death.” And the next sentence out of his mouth is, “You have answered me.”

For several years, I’ve been wandering in a desert (of my own making) that has, as David describes, been filled with words of groaning, loneliness in grief and despair. Feeling shut out from God’s presence. Understanding what that perceived silence from God feels like.

“I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it has melted within me. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue clings to my jaws; You have brought me to the dust of death.” The desert of desperation!

“You have answered me!”

In real estate sales we called this successful manifestation of future success: the assumptive close. It hasn’t happened, yet, but your experience (trust) speaks to assured reality.

“Therefore (v.22 of Psalm 22), I will declare Your name to my brethren, in the midst of the assembly, I will praise You!”

You see…the Psalm of suffering is the Psalm of declarative exuberant praise in the moment and speaks for evermore.

David closes his country song with the chorus that makes you hit the repeat button:

“A posterity shall serve Him. It will be recounted by the Lord…to the next generation, they will come and declare His righteousness to the next generation. They will come and declare His righteousness to a people who will be born, that He has done this.” (Psalm 22: 30-31).

I sit at my father’s grave, reminded of his legacy to me…

And I can here his favorite Psalm-song of suffering unto trustworthy redemption. Song of praise…..mind you…an orchestra of heavenly worship….the combined assembly of sacred songs of praise.

I leave Stark cemetery with renewed purpose, with a reinvigored passion of trust…a message for those who will be born. Trust God! He will give you a Psalm.