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A few years ago when my children were small, a Moms and Tots group would meet in our church building. Being one of the pastors of the congregation, sometimes it was just nice to drop my kiddo off and return to the office for a few uninterrupted hours of work. Occasionally I would stay for the program offered to the mothers. One program, in particular, stands out in my mind. A professor of Marriage and Family Therapy from the nearby Evangelical Seminary came to speak to these women. Many of whom, myself included, were sleep-deprived, harried, at loose ends, flustered, tired of being touched by little hands, tired of the constant demands of parenthood… 

As this man went through his presentation he shared with us a definition of insanity. Perhaps you are familiar with it: “Doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result.” This definition is not original to him, and in fact, after doing some digging it is hard to say exactly where this phrase came from. Some attributed it to Einstein, others to a Narcotics Anonymous brochure, and others to a novelist.1 Regardless of its origin, this saying has appeal and a ring of truth about it, especially to a Moms and Tots group or to any caregiver to small children. 

Take a moment to stop and think about it. If this is our working definition of insanity, then most of life carries the hint of the insane about it. I empty the trash only to have the bin fill up again. I wash the dishes only to have dirty ones fill the sink once more. I do the laundry and fold the clothes, pick up the toys, sweep the floor, change the diapers, make or order the meals, go to work when the alarm goes off…until I have to do it again maybe only minutes later. A never-ending cycle of repetition with no end in sight. It’s enough to make an adult weep. 

Sometimes we can get bogged down in the seeming futility and frustration of it all. We might find ourselves crying out like the Teacher in Ecclesiastes, “Vanity of vanities, All is vanity…All things are wearisome…there is nothing new under the sun”2 It can be easy to fall into the trap of defeat and despair when life seems insane and futile. Especially when it is hard to envision anything different. 

As a humanity, we’ve all been through a challenging few years.  Some might even call it an apocalyptic time. Literally, a time of revealing as so many things have been brought to the forefront of our global attention. Things such as; health care gaps, political and racial tensions, and the stark disparity of wealth within our own countries, let alone between countries. Supply chain issues have revealed the potential danger of mega-conglomerates and remind us that bigger isn’t always better. In addition to this, extreme weather events rocked countries around the world throughout 2021. Add to all of this personal struggles and challenges–the nitty-gritty of jobs, dishes, and diapers… It’s enough to make us ask ourselves, “When will it end? Is there a light at the end of this tunnel? Am I just going insane, doing the same thing over and over again and nothing ever changes?” 

There were more than a few tears shed during the professor’s presentation to the Moms and Tots group. There was a sense of being seen and being validated. To be honest, I can’t remember much else from the presentation apart from the tears and definition of insanity. Over the years, I’ve pondered that definition concerning life and our devotional practices. If we’re left with only this definition of insanity it would be easy to fall into meaninglessness at best and nihilism (a destructive belief that there is no purpose or hope in life) at worst. 

We often can find comfort in the seasons and cycles of life. We recognize the stages of the life cycle. We anticipate sporting seasons; football, baseball, basketball, wrestling…, they begin and end and come around again. It is similar in the life of the church. We have Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, and Pentecost peppered with Love Feast, pot pie, noodle, or apple butter making, District Conferences, Annual Conference, service projects, pot lucks, game nights, Bible Studies, mission trips, and revivals. There is a yearly cycle to most activities within the life of the church.  A never-ending cycle of repetition with no end in sight. Are our actions actually meaningless, futile, full of vanity, or even insane? Are we chasing after the wind?3

Dr. Michael Lefebvre offers us an insightful look at the book of Ecclesiastes as a way to begin answering those questions. According to Lefebvre, the defining feature of Ecclesiastes is, indeed, a call to joy. With six specific exhortations to be joyful and find enjoyment (2:24-26, 3:12-15, 5:18-20, 8:15, 9:7-10, 11:8-12:7). 

The book does not teach that life is meaningless. On the contrary, the book’s argument depends on the realization that life is of great value! Life is beautiful, which is why it is so infuriating that life too often falls apart arbitrarily.4

We have here within Scripture the expression of the pain and demoralizing effect of living without a focus on God. Without God things easily fall into a meaningless repetition, going through the motions simply because that is what is expected or required without purpose, peace, or joy. Dallas Willard has put it this way, 

To depart from righteousness is to choose a life of crushing burdens, failures, and disappointments, a life caught in the toils of endless problems that are never resolved. Here is the source of that unending soap opera, that sometimes horror show known as normal human life. The “cost of discipleship, though it may take all we have, is small when compared to the lot of those who don’t accept Christ’s invitation to be part of his company in The Way of life.5

If you want to stay sane, if you want to find meaning in this life, don’t depart from righteousness. Keep God at the heart of it all and we will have the ability to recognize the beauty, frailty, and even the frustrations of this life as the gifts and opportunities they truly are. 

We take comfort in the familiar and mundane. We find security in the repetitive nature of the yearly cycles of life and church. While at times it can be difficult to see five minutes ahead, let alone a week or a year, eventually even within these comforting repetitive cycles, things change. Incrementally at first but, eventually the children grow, technologies change, and pandemics end (Lord willing). Every year, Easter and Christmas come around again–-each time a little different than before; new people join our family and cherished loved ones pass away. Treasured stories of Scripture speak to us in new and meaningful ways year after year. With Christ, there is hope for the weary, the brokenhearted, and the burdened in this insane life. 

Romans 8:24-25 says, “For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.” Hope carries with it an element of waiting. Waiting for the children to grow, waiting for a pandemic to end, waiting for the light at the end of the tunnel. Waiting is hard stuff and that can make hope hard to hold onto as well. 

Lamentations 3:19-27 summarizes the despair of this insane life and moves it toward hope in God who is faithful and loving whose mercies are new every morning. “The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord” (vv. 25-26). We are also told in Isaiah 40:31 that hoping/waiting on the Lord renews our strength, “They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.” I cannot think of a single person who doesn’t need their strength renewed. 

There are so many scriptures that speak to us about hope, waiting, and joy. We have so many scriptures that speak to us and call us out of the meaningless futility and insanity of this life. Scripture can validate our experiences here. Scripture tells us we are seen, we are heard, and we are not alone. 

Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

He who rescued us from so deadly a peril will continue to rescue us; on him we have set our hope that he will rescue us again.

…because we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen, for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, from the dead…6

Scripture also calls us to something more profound than going through the motions of this life. Scripture calls us to more than the continual running on the hamster wheel of life that takes us nowhere. God’s word compels and cajoles us, inviting us into a deeper relationship with God. 

I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

…hope does not disappoint us because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. 

It [Love] bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. And now these three abide; faith, hope, and love. 

Let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap a harvest, if we do not give up. 

Therefore prepare your minds for action, discipline yourselves; set all your hope on the grace that Jesus Christ will bring you when he is revealed.7

But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect…8

Surely we will find what we are looking for, be it good or bad. Are we looking for the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living? Are we continuing to do what is right? Have we prepared our minds and disciplined ourselves so that we can give a reason for our hope? Do our lives so inspire Hope and Joy that others are curious about what might be wrong with us?9

It is not a false hope or a fake joy that we tout. We don’t have to wait for the happy ending to have a testimony to share. Our faith and our very lives need to be lived in such a way that we don’t ignore the pain and suffering, the despondency and meaninglessness of this life. We believe that God walks with us on this journey of life, through the mountains of ecstasy and the valleys of despair and that gives us hope.10

There is no source of security in this vain world, except in faith. Confidence that God sees, that God cares, that his wisdom is at work (even when we cannot see it), and that he will one day make everything right again: this is our only basis for hope. We can cling to joy in the midst of life’s chaos, only if we trust that the Lord is going to honor our faithfulness and one day make things right. There are no quick fixes, but there is real peace in a deeply rooted faith.11

A life of faith is a life that requires discipline. Not to earn our way into heaven; we are of course saved by grace and not because we deserve it. “That is the basis of God’s acceptance of us. But grace does not mean that sufficient strength and insight will be automatically ‘infused’ into our being in the moment of need.”12 Certain biblical and devotional practices become spiritual disciplines that help refine us and reveal Christ in us to others.

What good are celebration, confession, fasting, meditation, prayer, service, simplicity, solitude, study, submission, and worship to the weary and harried? What do discernment, embodiment, forgiveness, hospitality, or rest say to those running on life’s hamster wheel to nowhere? What do we do when every day seems to be pretty much like the last? What can be done when it all seems so meaningless, vain, and futile? We need a paradigm shift. We need a fundamental change of approach to life and divinity rooted in presence and choice. After sharing some of what was going on in my life with a friend, she asked; “Is this an adventure or an ordeal?” It was her not-so-subtle way of reminding me that I had a choice. While I might not be able to choose the circumstances or situations I can choose my attitude and my approach to what is happening around me. How do we approach this insane life? Are we conditioned for striving and despair, discontent and exhaustion? Or are we able to find the moments of joy and sense God’s presence with us–do we even try? 

There is a story told by Earl Fike, Jr. in the book The Something Else Lady about Anna Mow: missionary, wife, mother, author, professor, teacher, minister, and follower of Jesus. From an early age, Anna hated doing dishes, even though it was something that happened every day. After she wed she decided to change her attitude about dishes so instead of doing something miserable for the rest of her life she could do something she enjoyed. “So she thought about how good it was to have clean dishes, and as she washed them she listened to music, or thought up new stories, or just had quiet time.”13 Her husband knew how much she loved that time so he would save all the dishes just for her. Once after being gone for two weeks she came home and the sink was empty…only to have her husband bring a basket full of two weeks worth of dirty dishes in off the porch. “Sister Anna laughed her wonderful laugh, pulled up her sleeves and did something she liked. She washed the dishes.”14 (Believe me, things would have happened a little differently in my household!) Anna Mow’s story inspires and convicts. Richard Foster, likewise, said “If we think we can get out of the ‘rat race’ or the plague of societal and cultural sin on our own by an act of will, we are sorely mistaken. The needed change within us is God’s work, not ours. The demand is for an inside job, and only God can work from the inside.”15

We need to be so steeped in devotional spiritual practices that our “spiritual muscle memory” operates even when we are not actively engaged in that practice. Spiritual discipline and devotional practice may look different for you than for someone else. A life of spiritual practice and discipline is not bound by a certain cultural style, class, nationality, or age; on the contrary, the way embraces people in every circumstance, taking different shapes in different times and places.16

 Perhaps practicing hospitality begins with smiling more. Perhaps practicing forgiveness starts with yourself and moves out from there to your family, your neighbors, folks you pass on the street…Perhaps fasting isn’t just about giving up something but filling that space with prayer and time spent with God. Perhaps the discipline of tithing isn’t just about paper money but can apply to your time or your groceries. Practicing Sabbath rest might look like gardening, taking a nap, reading a book, baking cookies, or simply taking a deep breath and refocusing your energy. 

Dorothy C. Bass and Craig Dykstra in the book Practicing Our Faith: A Way of Life for Searching People have said, “Entering more deeply into a Christian practice, we do not just learn the practice. When practices are faithful, they teach us surprising things about God, our neighbors, and the world.”17 In other words; when our lives become saturated with our spiritual and devotional practices we will experience life, God, and the world in a whole new way that engenders hope and joy. 

Here is what I am commanding you to do. Be strong and brave. Do not be afraid. Do not lose hope. I am the Lord your God. I will be with you everywhere you go.18

God is with us in the midst of this crazy and unpredictable life and we are allowed to choose God, we are allowed to choose hope, and to choose joy. What “unpleasant” or “insane” chore or task can you with God’s help turn into an act of devotion and transformation? When I wash dishes or my children, I remember how Jesus washed the disciple’s feet, or how his salvation washes away my sin. When I make a meal I think of how Jesus fed the 5,000 or how the Word of God nourishes my soul. When I search for the missing sock or the lost toy I am reminded of Christ’s relentless search for the lost. I challenge you to find ways to practice the spiritual disciplines of hope & joy in your everyday life. 

There is nothing better for mortals than to eat and drink, and find enjoyment in their toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God; for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment.19

Look for the joy of a job well done; the joy of toys put away even if it is only for 30 seconds. The joy of a meal made with love and shared with family and friends, the joy even of doing dishes when it shifts from a duty to a time of worship and praise.  It is not a sin to find moments of joy in the toil of our lives. These moments may at times seem fleeting or few and far between, especially over the past few years. Yet these very moments sustain us and carry us through difficulty and remind us of God’s grace, mercy, and love. With God, we haven’t fallen to the insane or futile at all. With God at the center of our lives, with Christ as the author and perfecter of our faith, with the Holy Spirit as our Guide; our very lives, even the mundane and the seemingly insane can become a honing of the Spiritual Disciplines that lead us into a deeper relationship with our Creator and one another. If only we let it. May it be so, now and always. Amen.

Image Credit: Brandy Fix Liepelt.

Brandy Fix Liepelt co-pastors the Annville Church of the Brethren in the Atlantic Northeast District with her husband Paul. She has taught at Kulp Bible College in Nigeria, written for ‘Gather Round Curriculum, and taught classes for Susquehanna Valley Ministry Center. Brandy currently serves on the board of SVMC and on the District Nurture Commission. During her downtime she enjoys reading fantasy novels, experimenting with sourdough, the community pool, and spending time with her lovely daughters.

  1. Sarah Pruitt, “Here Are 6 Things Albert Einstein Never Said,” History.com (A&E Television Networks, April 7, 2017), last modified April 7, 2017, https://www.history.com/news/here-are-6-things-albert-einstein-never-said.
  2. Ecclesiastes 1:2b, 8a, 9b. All biblical references, unless otherwise noted, are to the New Revised Standard Version.
  3. Ecclesiastes 2:10-11.
  4. Michael LeFebvre, “Ecclesiastes Illuminates the Secret of Joy in a Dark World: Biblical Mind,” The Center for Hebraic Thought, last modified September 30, 2021, https://hebraicthought.org/ecclesiastes-illuminates-joy-dark-world/.
  5. Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding how God Changes Lives (United States: HarperCollins Publishers Inc. 1988, EPub Jan 2009), 2-3.
  6. Romans 12:12, 15:13; 2 Corinthians 1:10, 4:18; Hebrews 11:1; 1 Peter 1:3.
  7. Psalm 27:13; Romans 5:5; 1 Corinthians 13:7, 13; Galatians 6:9; 1 Peter 1:13.
  8. 1 Peter 3:15 (New International Version).
  9. 1 Peter 3:8-22.
  10. 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.
  11. Michael LeFebvre, “Ecclesiastes Illuminates the Secret of Joy in a Dark World: Biblical Mind,” The Center for Hebraic Thought, last modified September 30, 2021, https://hebraicthought.org/ecclesiastes-illuminates-joy-dark-world/.
  12. Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding how God Changes Lives (United States: HarperCollins Publishers Inc. 1988, EPub Jan 2009), 4.
  13. Earle Fike, Jr.  The Something Else Lady, (Bridgewater, VA: Good Printers Inc., 2004) 12.
  14. Ibid., 14.
  15. Richard J. Foster, Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth, (San Francisco, CA: HarperSanFrancisco, 1978), 5-6.
  16. Dorothy C. Bass Ed. Practicing Our Faith (San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1997), 203.
  17. Ibid., 200.
  18. Joshua 1:19 (New International Readers Version).
  19. Ecclesiastes 2:24.
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