Crossing over the plateau

For the past couple weeks I have been considering the relationship between recent news events, recent messages at church and crossing over or getting past plateaus.  The idea that these can be related or inter-related might seem a stretch but sometimes we need stretched.  First, I recalled Keith Ferrazzi starting his book, Never Eat Alone, with a quote from Margaret Wheatley, "Relationship is all there is.  Everything in the universe only exists because it is in relationship with everything else..."  Also, in Genesis 1:1 it records, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." (KJV).  The "and" used in this scripture is from the Hebrew "Vav" which is about the connectedness or relationship between spiritual and earthly matters.  A covenant relationship between heaven and earth.


At The Tabernacle this past Sunday, I had the privilege of listening to a message by Robert Stearns, Eagles Wings.  As part of his message he mentioned Ezekiel 16:49, "Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy." (KJV) And in the Message bible, "The sin of your sister Sodom was this: She lived with her daughters in the lap of luxury-- proud, gluttonous, and lazy. They ignored the oppressed and the poor."  I had always been taught, as Robert reminded us, the sin in Sodom was sexual immorality - but it was more as Ezekiel enlightened us.

When we are stuck on a plateau, we need to look for the catalyst that will cross us over.  The catalyst is that push that will cause us to take more action.  In powerlifting, it might be doing box squats with heavy rubber bands on the bar to get the gains coming again.  Yes, I have been pinned to the box by the bands - thank God for my training partners and our trusted (covenant) relationship.  In some cases, the catalyst may come from outside of us like the catalyst that caused me to send my book, working title - Life Transitions Glory to Glory, to a publisher.

Or, it might be Dan Cathy of Chick-Fil-A expressing his beliefs in an interview with no idea what he was about to set in motion.  At the least, significantly more chicken was eaten in the US this last week.  At the best, a voice long silenced by accusation and maybe a bit lazy, got up and spoke out.  At the worst, a prideful voice of accusation, that had nothing to do with the poor or needy, rose up in an attempt to re-silence the other voice.
Regardless of what you think of Chick-Fil-A, Dan Cathy or the discussion, it has been a catalyst and we are all effected.  We have been pushed off a plateau and there is no going back.  In the end, we are left with the relationships that were created or destroyed - relationships with each other and our God.  Because, in the end - "Relationship is all there is."

What plateau have you been pushed off?  What condition are your relationships in as a result?