Take a Breath
OK, let’s take a stroll through a small sample of life these days as we know it…
Crazy local and larger politics. Days fly and nights drag. Iran. Traffic. National debt. Personal disappointments. Social dysfunction. Ukraine. Congressional division. Gas prices. Shootings. Immigration. Kids these days. Homelessness. Slaughter of innocents in multiple countries. Algorithms. Weight gain. Hair loss. Sports gambling scandals. Generational strife. Wildfire smoke. Aging bodies. Social Security. Lions and tigers and bears, OH MY!
If a person didn’t know any better, they could get depressed just listening to the news, and if not depressed, certainly anxious.
As Jesus followers, it seems most folks lean either toward frantically fighting every battle as though society and safety hinged on its outcome, or removing themselves from the cultural undertow in hopes of escaping corruption.
Each side holds people just trying to find a way in crazy times. One commentator I like said recently that a large majority of Americans (and I can assume American Christians), are personally quite moderate. If you imagine a football field, most are between the 20s, but strongly influenced by the radical fringes on either end.
Before you jump down my throat, I recognize these are generalizations, but the drift seems to go one way or the other. So, I wonder if there is a third way.
A way to both engage in the cultural dialogue while remaining Jesus-like in our daily life.
Engaged while distinct.
A third way where fewer enemies are seen and fellow-strugglers are noticed.
A way that sees and hears people, even those we strongly disagree with.
A way that builds unlocked gates in fences, and lined with offers of help.
I heard a guy online just this week say we are beyond the possibility of living a third-way life; that the stakes are too high and the separation too great to play both ends toward the middle. Count me as an outlier, then, in my disagreement with him.
The drumbeat of news and news feeds, screaming preachers, or the latest hot podcaster are just noise-makers clanging for attention: more ears, more eyeballs, more clicks, more revenue. And in the shadows, powerful algorithms pour more and more down our throats.
The other day I ran across a poem/prayer that serves as a good reminder for anyone, anytime. It’s by Douglas Kaine McKelvey.
Give us discernment in the face of troubling news reports.
Give us discernment to know when to pray, when to speak out, when to act, and when to simply shut off our screens and our devices, and to sit quietly in your presence,
Casting the burdens of this world upon the strong shoulders of the one who alone is able to bear them up.
Amen
That sounds great, but my inclination is to keep scrolling and stuffing more and more into my backpack and then wonder why life seems so heavy. I’m not built for that, and neither are you.
So, let’s together take a few moments today to stop and breathe, deeply.
Shut down your devices and ask God to settle your skittish mind and to corral your thoughts. Imagine him sitting in the chair across the room, with legs crossed and hands folded in his lap. Spend a bit of time looking at him looking at you looking at him.
Breathe, deeply.
Maybe ask the God who speaks to whisper to your spirit reminders of the central things within your reach on which to focus your energy.
Ask him to show you, again, your mission. Yours, given by him without competing or comparing to others who have their own tasks to tackle. Trust me, it’s there.
Invest a bit of your day simply being with FatherSonSpirit without lists to mention but with ears to hear. Never forget to remember that this God so loved the world, you included, that he gave all so you might have life.
Julian of Norwich, a 14th century woman who, after seeing visions of Jesus, lived and wrote from a small room built into the wall of St. Julian’s church in the busy English town of Norwich, from which she took her name. A while back, a friend shared her most repeated line to me, and serves me well to stay sane in troubled times.
All will be well and all will be well and all manner of things will be well.
In the days we face it’s good to know we follow and serve a God who is not surprised or anxious or who scrambles for solutions. Instead, he works in the cracks of life that open in the worst of times. All will be well.
Stop your worrying. Take a breath.
Music time!
Funnies for the win!
The aspiring psychiatry students were attending their first class on emotional extremes.
"Just to establish some parameters," said the professor to a student from New York, "What is the opposite of joy?"
"Sadness," said a student.
And the opposite of depression?" he asked of the young lady from Oklahoma.
"Elation," she said.
"And you sir," he said to the young man from Texas, "how about the opposite of woe?"
The Texan replied, "Sir, I believe that would be giddy-up."
********************
A man was overweight, so his doctor put him on a diet.
"I want you to eat regularly for two days, then skip a day, repeat this process for two weeks and the next time I see you, you'll have lost at least five pounds," the doctor said.
When the man returned, he shocked the doctor by having lost nearly 20 pounds.
"That's amazing!" the doctor said, "did you follow my instructions?"
The man nodded. "I'll tell you though, I thought I was going to pass out that third day."
"From hunger, you mean?"
“No,” the man panted, “from skipping.”