Recombobulate. Isn’t that a great word? The Urban Dictionary defines recombobulate, “To put something back the way it was, or into proper working order.”
Earlier this week, my friend Maria de Lourdes Ruiz Scaparlanda blogged about feeling discombobulated. The last year of year of her life has seen many changes – the marriage of two daughters, the birth of two grandchildren, the deaths of two beloved friends. In all, she described it as a “yearlong discombobulation.”
What most touched me was her prayer: “Recombobulate me, Lord – but let it be in your own time, and not in mine.”
It is a bold prayer. So often our response to the changes that upset our normal rhythm is to find ways to pull ourselves out of the uncomfortable situation as quickly as possible. “Get me out of this now, Lord,” is what many would think, even if they didn’t utter the words as prayer.
Recombobulate me – in your time, not mine, expresses a willingness to sit in the discomfort, in what sometimes seems like chaos, and perhaps to learn something from the experience. The end result of the process won’t be to put things back the way they were, like the Urban Dictionary definition suggest, but it will put us where we need to be.
Recombomulate me, Lord – but let is be in your own time, and not in mine.
Creo en Dios! 