BY MICHELLE WILLIAMS, GRACE ATTENDER & BLOGGER
Logic can be an asset. Logic helps us confidently make decisions through a proven framework of experience, knowledge, and reasoning.
But logic can also be a detriment. On the opposite end of the spectrum from logic is intuition—a less tangible resource often relied upon in the decision-making process. Intuition may be described as a “gut feeling” not based in anything proven as factual.
The thing is, logic and intuition don’t always line up. There’s a camp that will tell you “go with the logic” in those cases. After all, logic is grounded in knowledge and fact, right? Intuition is simply a case of the feels.
We all have those moments. I know I’ve had a lot of them. Do I go with my gut, or do I go with the sound logic? Early in 2014, I encountered one of those moments. After attending the Project Eden justice seminar, I was fired up to re-connect with the creation and to restore broken ecosystems. Diving in head-first, I blindly signed myself up for every informational meeting to follow.
My moment came when I found myself knee deep in a meeting about the community gardens to be installed in the far-north lot of the 146th Street Campus of Grace Church. I faced a decision of whether or not to sign up and tend an individual plot. It may outwardly seem silly or relatively unimportant, but this decision turned into an almost epic battle between my logic and intuition. Let me explain.
I love gardening. I grew up helping my parents with their gardens. And with a bit of backbreaking, sod-ripping work, I’ve installed new gardens at each of the 3 houses I’ve owned. My point is, I already had a garden. I also had a full-time job, a family including a 3-year-old child and big plans to start a blog with a lifelong friend. What I didn’t have was time to manage garden #2 in a location 6 miles away from my house. Signing up for a plot in the community gardens didn’t make any logical sense. But then there was my intuition.
Talk about a major case of the feels. My soul craved community. My heart was entwined with the prospect of helping to supply the Care Center with fresh, organically-grown produce. And my mind was made up about doing my part in the battle against the decay of Creation. The force (of intuition) was strong with me.
As I explained to my family, friends, and coworkers my decision to manage garden #2 at a location 6 miles from my house in all the spare time I had (oh, and I was giving half of that garden’s harvest away), I was reminded time and again how I was making no sense. No sense at all. I went ahead and did it anyway.
My intuition came through for me later on in the endeavor. The first time I delivered a healthy load of produce to the Care Center, I was enveloped in a deeply profound and healing joy—a welcome sensation as I was still working through the pain that followed in the wake of my dad’s tragic suicide (you can read more about that here). In that moment, my soul was finally at peace. Doing the thing that made no sense brought me peace and filled me with incredible faith. Logic had nearly robbed me of that.
Since making that connection, I have come to believe or understand that our intuition is often tapped by the Holy Spirit as a way to reach us or nudge us in a certain direction. Sometimes that direction may seem to make no logical sense at all, and taking a step against the grain of logic is indeed a bold move. But the increased faith that may follow these bold steps can be so intensely powerful and uplifting. And that makes perfect sense.
Do the Thing That Makes No Sense
If you were here for our Drift series or have been with us through Formerly Known as Christian, you know that we are called to more as Christians. We are called to be bold and do the thing that culturally makes absolutely no sense. So you can't make any more excuses, here are two easy ways to start:
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Join a Group. Grace has >opportunities for all ages and life stages. Whether it's a group for young adults, singles, women, men or marrieds or intergenerational people, just say yes to connecting into a community. It might be a bold and scary step for you. But, I promise, it will be worth it.
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Serve on a Team. There are endless possibilities when it comes to serving at Grace. And they need skills that only you can bring. Take a look at the ways you can serve and sign up!