The Way I See It #193

"Let's imagine a 21st century America where families, friends and neighbors gather together at the end of each day in parks and town squares and on street corners and porches, to tell stories and jokes, to sing and dance with wild abandon! I can see and hear it now . . ."

~ Dan Zanes, musician

If I was a betting man, I'd betcha that Dan Zanes is a Christian. I mean, if you think about, in just one long sentence using a handful of words, he's described the Kingdom. He asks us to imagine what community - true community - might look like. Over all that Zanes is describing, there is a sense of rhythm; without it, his image breaks down. Seeing words like those on this particular Starbucks cup are becoming common for me, as I truly feel that God is leading me to a much-needed awareness and understanding of what it means to live my life in harmony with his plans and purposes for me.

Maybe I can do my part to usher in the community life that Dan describes if I will live out these words of Thomas Merton:

The fact remains that we are invited to forget ourselves on purpose, cast our awful solemnity to the wind and join in the general Dance.

rhythm

I woke up tired this morning. No, I didn’t drink too much at a Super Bowl party, thank you very much. But it’s kind of a depressing thing to start a week with your fuel gauge pointing towards “E,” and yet that’s where I’m at in these days.

I just wrapped up one of the busiest stretches I’ve experienced in a long time. Hard on the heels of the Holiday Season came our periodic family gathering that we at Tulip Street call “Moving Ahead.” I served as the moderator for that meeting, and had to deliver a couple of slices of information, speaking on Leadership Development at our church, and the formation of our Lead Pastor Search Team. The week after that, I spoke at both of our morning services, and had to prepare not only to speak, but to locate the materials to build a stone altar with as a visual object lesson for the teaching. The night of my teaching, we held our Annual Meeting. The week after the Annual Meeting, I co-hosted 15 Lehigh customers at our 4th Annual Concrete Technology School. Saturday, we had our monthly Elder’s Study, my son was in a basketball tourney, and then it’s Sunday again, and we stayed up for this football game that is kind of a big deal. And here I am, wondering why I feel beat up.

I guess I wanted to capture all of this as a way of saying “I’m sorry” to a lot of folks. I have dogged a lot of people who have sent me emails lately – you know who you are, and I promise I haven’t deleted anybody's email, and I will reply, but it may be awhile before I get to it. I haven’t posted on my blog in awhile, and I really did have some thoughts I wanted to share, but I couldn’t carve out the time (or sometimes even the energy!). I apologize for not updating the prayer concerns, as we collectively Pray With The Church. I have prayed as I’ve become aware of things, I just haven’t spent the time to post them. I’ve likely snapped at my wife and kids more than usual (to say I never do that would be, um, dishonest). Being busy and/or tired isn’t a good excuse for treating them poorly. But it’s the best I have right now!

So, I went through my usual checking this morning of a few blog sites that speak to me, and ran across something on Joshua Longbrake’s site. He writes:

there are seasons in my life when the phrase everything feels out of control runs too often through my head. anxiety surrounds me. i feel like i’m going from one stress-filled situation to the next, just trying to survive until i can lay down to sleep that night. i absolutely hate that feeling. i can’t stand it.

And that’s me: So many times lately, I sense that I’m caught up in this swift moving current without the ability to control where it’s going. Like Joshua, I hate the feeling. At one level or another, it affects me and others in my life. My heart hurts just thinking about it!

I want to close with the advice of the wise, often bearded, young man who seems wise beyond his years. Joshua closes his post with this, and so will I:

whatever it is in your week that gives you life, do it more and more. find the things that make you more whole and more you. find the things that you think God would enjoy doing as well and make them a rhythmic pattern in your life. God wants you to be whole and full of life. and so do i.