It is what it is.

As we head into the New Year I am reminded of a conversation I recently had with a very bright and talented young man.  He was frustrated by his job and the silly rules and regulations he has to put up with working there.  As he talked about the rules it seemed that his work place was more of a day care than a work place for grown ups.  I am sure that his frustrations made him more negative than was warranted. Never the less, he had some legitimate complaints.  But as he ended the conversation he said two things that were very disconcerting.  They were two phrases that expressed the same sense of helplessness and hopelessness: “nothing matters” and “it is what it is”.  He seems to have meant, “I can’t change any of this, so why try?  I will just play the game.”  If you are in ministry at any level you can relate to some degree to this sentiment. 

The phrase “It is what it is” has become the slogan for an age that has become very willing to simply accept the status quo and assume that our circumstances must dictate and guide our lives.  It is a statement of the radically obvious, so much so, as to be a statement not worth saying.  To say, “A duck is a duck” doesn’t often need to be said, to say “A duck is a 67 Shelby GT 500” is nonsense.   This statement also assumes that what we perceive is a complete, full, and flawless knowledge of the circumstances.  That simply is not possible.  We do not know what spiritual forces may be at work.  It is only to God that all hearts are opened and all desires known and from Whom no secrets are hidden.  We can say, “It is what it is” because we do not know all of “it”.  I am not advocating that we escape into some Pollyanna realm in which we pretend that hardship and difficulties don’t exist.  Rather, I would suggest two questions, which we’ll follow up with, “It is what it is”.

First question: “What should “it” be?”  Like my young friend it is pretty easy to find faults with any system then, in exasperation say, “It is what it is”.  Once we have seen a/the weakness (es) is a great time to look for better ways to operate.  My young friend is fairly new at this job and this is a very large and old organization so the chance of his implementing changes soon is fairly remote.  But there can always be the internal changes of our own life.  If we don’t like what “it” is, we can make sure we don’t do that ourselves.  As I look back at 2018, I see a lot of things in my year that I didn’t like.  But rather than say, “It is what it is” and maintaining the status quo I have decided to make some internal and personal changes.  Which leads me to the:

Second question: What are you going to do about it?  If something is wrong it will most likely not get better unless something is changed.  If something is radically wrong it will take radical changes, small adjustments simply will not do.  Wishful thinking is not a strategy, at least not one for success.   It may mean dumping everything we thought we knew about our career.  It may mean letting go of all our relationships that are satisfied with the status quo.  If what we are doing is only marginally effective it may be time to do something completely different.  I am not talking about an infinitesimally small (but ridiculously) difficult change like from hymns to choruses.  Rather, a radical reshaping of our lives and ministries.    If what “it” is is not working, what would we have to lose?

I would challenge you this year to make the radical changes that will transform, “It is what it is” into “It is more than we asked for or imagined!”