As I was inching along in the line of cars to get on 94 West this week, my eyes fell on a curious bumper sticker. It read: Chaos-Panic-Fear: My work here is done. I was startled. What could this mean? What was the intention of the creator? What was the intention of the person who cavalierly pasted this message on their bumper? On the one hand I wanted to laugh but then the words began to disturb me.

Chaos-Panic-Fear. Who would declare that as their work? Probably each of us could name a few people whose work we believe does just that…creates chaos. Sometimes this is intentional and sometimes it is simply because their life situation carries with it energy that moves into our midst and before we know it we are sucked into their chaotic vertex. Chaos often has panic as its by-product and where panic lives fear finds a home and takes root. My prayer is that I may never create this negative spiral though no doubt at times I have.

I would like to speak for another way of living in and with chaos. Webster defines chaos as:’the disorder of formless matter and infinite space, supposed to have existed before the ordered universe ;the state of order existing within apparent disorder, as in the irregularities of a coastline or snowflake.’ If approached with openness and a hopeful heart, chaos can be the biggest catalyst for creativity. When faced with the chaos of a situation, relationship, project, if we open our eyes to the possibilities within the chaos, creativity moves in and great things can come out of it……things as amazing as snowflakes.

Perhaps parts of your life, your work, may seem like they are chaos right now. Disorder reigns. How different would our work be if we saw this disorder not as a reason to panic and be fearful but instead as an opportunity for great dreaming, re-imagining and creativity? This choice is not always the easy one. We live in a culture that promotes panic and fear at every turn. But this choice is, in my experience, always the rewarding one.

As I read the scriptures and other wisdom writings, it seems to me that all great forward motion has been founded on a creativity that rose out of and above chaos to ask the question,"What is the greatest good that can be done here?" And out of that asking, change, order, and hope are born.

So let me propose another bumper sticker….Chaos-Creativity-Hope: My Work Here Has Just Begun. Anyone out there willing to slap that message on their bumper? Anyone willing to put these words…with glue that promises to be very difficult to remove….on their car and drive out into the world? I hope so.

The reports tell us a warming trend for these frigid days is on its way. Seems like a good opportunity to reach for our creativity and see what come of it. Stay warm and dream.

"Earth was a soup of nothingness, a bottomless emptiness, an inky blackness. God’s Spirit brooded above the watery abyss. God spoke: Light! and light appeared. God saw that light was good."Genesis 1 from The Message