Traci Rhoades - Shaky Ground: What to Do After the Bottom Drops Out

SHAKY
GROUND

WHAT TO DO AFTER THE

BOTTOM

DROPS

OUT

TRACI RHOADES

AUTHOR OF NOT ALL WHO WANDER (SPIRITUALLY) ARE LOST

Copyright 2022 by Traci Rhoades

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher.

Unless otherwise noted, the Scripture quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the Kings James Version, public domain.

Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked MSG are taken from THE MESSAGE, copyright 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress, represented by Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotation on p. 164 marked Alter is taken from Robert Alter, The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary (New York: W.W. Norton, 2018).

Morehouse Publishing, 19 East 34th Street, New York, NY 10016
Morehouse Publishing is an imprint of Church Publishing Incorporated.

Cover design by Dylan Marcus McConnell, Tiny Little Hammers
Typeset by Rose Design

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Rhoades, Traci, author.

Title: Shaky ground : what to do after the bottom drops out / Traci Rhoades.

Description: New York, NY : Morehouse Publishing, [2022]

Identifiers: LCCN 2022003100 (print) | LCCN 2022003101 (ebook) | ISBN 9781640655591 (paperback) | ISBN 9781640655607 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: Christian life. | Consolation.

Classification: LCC BV4501.3 .R475 2022 (print) | LCC BV4501.3 (ebook) | DDC 248.4--dc23/eng/20220325

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022003100

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022003101

To the communion of saints
(especially those on Twitter),
peace be with you.

I have one pet peeve: things falling down. Im serious. Let a pencil roll off the table, or a book Im carrying flip to the floor, and I genuinely feel that the universe has affronted me. Personally. Purposefully. Affronted.

These are merely inanimate objects slipping out of my grasp; imagine how I feel when Im the one slipping and sliding? A patch of ice on the sidewalk absolutely does me in. The rest of my family walks boldly on, but I hang back, gently picking my way along. Ice skating, skiing, snowboardingnot for me. Growing up in the 1980s, I did spend plenty of happy hours at the roller-skating rink with my friends, but never, ever, did I leave the safety of that oval-shaped carpeted wall. I need something solid I can count on.

Both physically and spiritually I prefer life to be secure, to feel my feet touching the ground, leaving nothing to chance. I want a path that will unfold just as I expect it to. Nothing falling, please. Certainly not me.

To my ongoing dismay, life is nothing like this.

In reality, pencils roll, ice is slipperyand thats just the beginning. Were thrown curveballs every day, the unexpected always rising up to meet us. Were on shaky ground in this life. But there are walls around us we can cling to if we know how to find them.

I first met Traci Rhoades on Twitter, and what struck me most about her was her curiosity. Time and again she opened her corner of the internet to questions about faith, life, and community, meandering through our many responses, never becoming lost in it all but never afraid of the chaos either. As Ive gotten to know her betteras a writer, a reader, a follower of Jesus, and as a friendIve discovered that Tracis questions come not from a place of disorientation but from solid ground. She knows who she is and where she stands. Thats why shes comfortably eager to see what life looks like from where you stand too.

This freedom comes through in Shaky Ground: What to Do After the Bottom Drops Out, for Traci isnt afraid to be honest about the ways life is unstable, the countless ways the rug is (and will be) pulled out from under us. But as she has wandered and explored, shes found treasures, resources that help hold us up and point our faces forward.

Shaky Ground is a book about Christian spiritual practices, but you almost dont realize it right away. Instead of lecturing the reader with research and how-tos, Traci tells storiesgrounded stories, embodied stories. Stories about walking away from a beloved home for the last time, then courageously pointing her feet on the road to a new home. Of gathering with friends to mourn the death of a loved one. Of sitting in a breathtaking cathedral and contemplating the mysteries of faith. And in the midst of all this real-life living, she weaves in the practices of the Christian faith, the walls that hold us up when the ground begins to shake.

Traci writes of the day she walked through a prayer labyrinth, each step leading slowly but surely toward the center. Walking a labyrinth is one of my own favorite ways to pray, and no surprisefollowing the steadily unfolding path is the very opposite of slip-sliding on ice. But as I read these chapters, the image of a prayer labyrinth stayed with me, for Tracis words have a similar impact as these sacred walks do. Shell lead you with a steady and centering voice, trustworthy and grounded, always beckoning you to take another step yet never leaving you feeling lost or anxious. Slowly but surely, each page will bring you closer to the center.

Are you ready to step inside?

Catherine McNiel
author of Long Days of Small Things, All Shall Be Well,
and Fearing Bravely: Risking Love for Our Neighbors,
Strangers, and Enemies

As a little girl, I regularly visited Kansas Citys large amusement park, Worlds of Fun. Often, my brothers went with me. My older brother in particular could be very persuasive: as I remember it, hed always talk me into riding a certain ride with him.

The Finnish Fling.

Now, Worlds of Fun rides take you around the world, which means this ride could be found in the European section of the amusement park. Im pretty sure a ride like this exists by a variety of names in other places as well. Participants enter a circular barrel and take their spot along the wall. When the ride begins, it spins faster and faster, until gradually the floor drops out, leaving you hanging by centrifugal force. Literally, you stick like Velcro to the wall.

Without fail, this ride left me woozy, sometimes actually making me sick. For at least a few hours, if not for the rest of the day, I felt shaky, and it generally took a while for me to feel settled again.

This book is about that feeling. Were on this ride called life, and we keep expecting it to be worlds of fun. But sometimes the bottom drops out, whether by our own doing or not, and were left wondering how we got here and when this part of the ride will end.

The Finnish Fling shook me up. If I had ignored how I felt and tried to push through, maybe getting a slice of pizza and a slushy, it would not have gone well. This world too offers us quick fixes that might make us feel better for a time. What we need, though, is firm footing. This book is your invitation to look at spiritual practices, some ancient, some new, some seemingly unconventional, that help us live life on solid ground. Ready?