HEARTLIGHT ® Magazine: Single...Not Alone: "Moments of Clarity"

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Moments of Clarity
by Cary Branscum
 
Moments of clarity? What in the world are moments of clarity?
As a single person, do you find yourself sleepwalking through life? You’re not alone. Many of us do just that. But if we are open to them, God can give us moments of clarity and help us reset our perspectives so we can more fully recognize and honor Him in our world!
Now this may get a little philosophical, but hang with me a minute and you’ll see the point. God made our brains to arrange and categorize our experience. Some things we forget, some things we remember, some things scare us, and some things attract us. When we think and feel, we are processing our raw sensations into experience. Out of this experience we build viewpoints, attitudes, and beliefs.
These viewpoints, attitudes, and beliefs can be so ingrained that we fail to recognize the NEW, the CHALLENGING. At the same time, we need to be aware and watchful for moments of clarity where God breaks through to us with fresh insight and deeper awareness. Now you don’t have to act on every impulse or go berserk over ever new insight. But sometimes, these new insights are rich enough to be moments of clarity. Now there is nothing really mysterious about these moments. They are certainly not direct revelations from God. At the same time, they are like signposts, gentle nudges from God’s Spirit that can change your perspective and refocus your life.
Let me give you an example?
I was driving down a busy street in Austin during the early morning rush hour. The sky was cloudy. Instead of sleepwalking, maybe I was “sleepdriving,” not even aware of the world around me. As I sat at a stoplight and drank my coffee, I looked at the driver in the car on my right. Suddenly the sun came out and illuminated the drivers profile. I was able to see for a moment, what James Joyce called the “radiance of things.” Accompanying the feeling was this insight: everyone will either be saved or lost. I know that doesn’t seem too profound a statement now, but it was at that moment as I thought it and felt it. It was more than just a thought in my head, it was conviction born out of a Moment of Clarity! I need to be aware of the eternal nature of everyone around me! It wasn’t something a preacher said, it was a conviction deep within my heart.
We all need to be open to these kinds of moments. We need to have our hearts and lives retuned to God’s frequency and our values realigned with His values.
How about your own life? Do you have moments of clarity?
A moment of clarity has some of the following characteristics:

A sense of realizing the truth
Accompanying feelings of affirmation
A feeling of wholeness and unity
A verification of your insight in Scripture

You may find listening to a child laugh, speaking a kind word, performing outrageous acts of kindness, or even pretending you are Robin Williams making others someone laugh can give you bursts of insights and joy. But folks, you can cultivate true moments of clarity only when you root them in faith by praying, studying the Bible, helping others in Jesus’ name, pausing to drink in the beauty of God’s world around you, and getting input from spiritual people around you.
It is sometimes easy for singles to fall into a predictable rut out of frustration and fatalism: “Things are never going to be any different.” “Nothing is ever going to change.” While this may insulate us from unexpected hurts, it also walls us off from new joys, especially the joy of a moment of clarity. Don’t let Satan wall you off from a new thing God longs to do in your life. Let Him give you moments of clarity that allow for the breakthroughs in your life. Ultimately, can learn to find these moments, and thank God for these moments, and give Him the glory for being the God of new things!