Every story has a narrative structure. Most narrative structures have 3 sections — set-up, conflict, and resolution. Brene Brown refers to these 3 sections of our personal story as Reckoning, Rumble, and Revolution. The first section, we confront the reality of our story. We acknowledge it, and we attempt to solve it as easily as possible. When that doesn’t work, we move to the Rumble, the conflict. The proverbial dragon who must be slain. After we conquer the Rumble, we are permitted to resolve. We are given entry to the sacred space of resolution, where our story typically wraps up into a nice package.

We want to rush through the middle, the rumble, the conflict, to get to the good stuff. I don’t want to linger in the struggle. I want to run through it like a midnight grocery run when I’m out of salsa. Get in, get the stuff, get out. Not that I’ve ever done that. . .

Dr. Brown cautions against rushing through the middle. She says, “The middle is where the magic happens”. Too bad the middle is usually less than magical. Too often the middle is rough. Lonely. Dark. Open-ended. There are no pathways, no guardrails to keep you from falling over the edge. You don’t know where the end is, so you just keep moving forward hoping you’ll get there. . .eventually. And you will. No matter how dark the way or lonely the path, you will get there if you just keep going.

This week in staff chapel I heard a woman say “God allows the things He hates to give light to what He loves”. Or, more simply, the middle is where the magic happens. God allows the struggle, the hurt, the exhaustion, the whatever, to bring me (you, us, whomever) to a place of quiet rest and peace.

We can’t rush the middle. No matter how pressing the darkness becomes. No matter the fumbling, stumbling, and confusion, we cannot rush the middle. Today, it’s easy for me to say that. My middle has ended. The darkness has given way to light and a firm path on which to stand. Two months ago, my confidences in that statement would have sounded a lot more like hopeful desperation.

The magic of the middle is still being revealed, but I can stand in the confidence of “The middle is where the magic happens. We can’t rush the middle”.

Psalm 18:19 “He brought me out into a broad place; He rescued me because He delighted in me.”