Face Your Chaos

Gary Harpst • January 3, 2023

As you enter the new year, it is a great time to confront the chaos around you. Chaos is nothing more than the raw material of life, it is the flour, sugar and baking soda of your cake. There are three types of chaos:

External Chaos

This includes things insurance companies call “acts of God” –floods, earthquakes, hurricanes and pandemics. We are not in control of these types of events, but we do have control of how or if we prepare for them.

Social Chaos

This reflects the high unpredictability of human interaction. Every single person alive has unique desires, imagination and skills. The result is surprising difficulty in staying on the same page with our family, co-workers, people we see on our commute and even whole nations. This type of chaos is more frustrating because it seems like it should be in our control to do something about it. 

The Chaos Within

This is the hidden chaos that refers to misalignment deep inside us — our desires, our reason and our actions. Often, we ourselves don’t understand the root cause of this misalignment but it’s there. You know that nagging sense of discontent, but you don’t know its exact source. The chaos within is often pushed aside but it eventually surfaces in the form of anger, frustration, discontent, disengagement or even depression.

3 Tips for Beating Chaos

Be encouraged that the Bible says you are created in God’s image with the ability to overcome chaos. You are created to be a victor, not a victim. Following are 3 steps for taking control:

  1. Pick your battle wisely. There is an infinite amount of chaos (opportunity) around us. Choose carefully which area you want to start building more order. 
  2. Clarify purpose. Purpose is the only way to overcome chaos. Purpose is really the opposite of chaos. Clarity of purpose shows how to use the chaos around you. Back to the baking analogy, you can’t do anything with the flour and sugar until you pick the recipe. 
  3. Don’t go alone. Tell someone you trust your battle plan so they can encourage you on your journey. Another biblical principle is that we are not meant to overcome alone, we need others to work with us.
As you enter the new year, it is a great time to confront the chaos around you. Chaos is nothing more than the raw material of life, it is the flour, sugar and baking soda of your cake. There are three types of chaos: External Chaos This includes things insurance companies call “acts of God” –floods, earthquakes, hurricanes and pandemics. We are not in control of these types of events, but we do have control of how or if we prepare for them. Social Chaos This reflects the high unpredictability of human interaction. Every single person alive has unique desires, imagination and skills. The result is surprising difficulty in staying on the same page with our family, co-workers, people we see on our commute and even whole nations. This type of chaos is more frustrating because it seems like it should be in our control to do something about it. The Chaos Within This is the hidden chaos that refers to misalignment deep inside us — our desires, our reason and our actions. Often, we ourselves don’t understand the root cause of this misalignment but it’s there. You know that nagging sense of discontent, but you don’t know its exact source. The chaos within is often pushed aside but it eventually surfaces in the form of anger, frustration, discontent, disengagement or even depression. 3 Tips for Beating Chaos Be encouraged that the Bible says you are created in God’s image with the ability to overcome chaos. You are created to be a victor, not a victim. Following are 3 steps for taking control: Pick your battle wisely. There is an infinite amount of chaos (opportunity) around us. Choose carefully which area you want to start building more order. Clarify purpose. Purpose is the only way to overcome chaos. Purpose is really the opposite of chaos. Clarity of purpose shows how to use the chaos around you. Back to the baking analogy, you can’t do anything with the flour and sugar until you pick the recipe. Don’t go alone. Tell someone you trust your battle plan so they can encourage you on your journey. Another biblical principle is that we are not meant to overcome alone, we need others to work with us.

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