Circumcircumstances

No, the title is not a typo -- it's my new word I've been trying out! Here's my thinking behind it...

Like many people, I'd say most of my moods, attitudes and states of being are overwhelmingly determined by my circumstances. How I feel is based on things like (but not limited to): the day of the week, the time of day, the season, the weather, whether or not my kids are listening to me, what we're having for dinner, if anyone in the house is sick, if I remembered to get everything I was supposed to at the grocery store, what I'm reading, the number of tantrums thrown by the little people in the house, how clean the living room is, how many unmatched socks come out of the dryer, how bad traffic is, the ratio of junk-to-interesting items in the mail, the length of the line I'm standing in at the store, the price of gas, the price of organic milk, the length of time before my next haircut, the health and status of all our relatives, the state of my garden, and if there's a new "The Office" on this week. These are some of my "circumstances."

Now since I've been spending a lot of time going over SAT information with students these days, I know that the root word "circ/circum" means "around." So if my circumstances are the things going on around me, then my circumcircumstances are the things going on around those things. I read a line in a Beth Moore book the other day that said, "If we could only see beyond the veil of the natural world..." and I would follow that up with, "....we'd see our circumcircumstances!" And these are the True things -- the things that really matter. The things that go way beyond our earthly, temporary (and in my case, usually quite petty) circumstances.

In my mind I think of myself as a little rowboat out in the water. Waves come all the time -- some big and some small -- that move me around (my circumstances). But I have an Anchor that keeps me from getting swept way out of the harbor.... This is what I mean about my circumcircumstances.

Keeping my eyes on the true Truths, the circumcircumstances, also helps me not worry so much about the future. Who knows what my circumstances will be -- they could be great, or they could be quite scary (and most likely, both will occur). But the circumcircumstances are unchanging, permanent and trustworthy. They will be the same in 20 or 40 years that they are now. Or 400 years even.

Now the trick is trying keep my mood/attitudes/states of being aligned with my circumcircumstances instead of my circumstances!