A Circus Act - steady now!
Mar
11
Written by:
Friday, March 11, 2011
Anne Morrow Lindbergh writes, “For life today in America is based on the premise of ever-widening circles of contact and communication." What would she say about life in America today? Could Anne even imagine our ever-widening circles of contact and communication?
Anne Morrow Lindbergh writes of the complexity of life in Gifts from the Sea. She is writing at the beach – sand between the toes, sea salt in the air, wave-crashing, sea-gull calling beach. Slow paced restful days.
Contrast where she is with what she writes. “For life today in America is based on the premise of ever-widening circles of contact and communication. It involves not only family demands, but community demands, national demands, international demands on the good citizen, through social and cultural pressures, through newspapers, magazines, radio programs, political drives, charitable appeals, and so on. My mind reels with it. What a circus act we…perform every day of our lives. It puts the trapeze artist to shame. Look at us. We run a tight rope daily, balancing a pile of books on the head. Baby-carriage, parasol, kitchen chair, still under control. Steady now!
This is not the life of simplicity but the life of multiplicity that the wise men warn us of. It leads not to unification but to fragmentation. It does not bring grace; it destroys the soul.”
What would she say about life in America today? Could Anne even imagine our ever-widening circles of contact and communication? Twitter, Facebook, smartphones, video chats, e-books and on and on. You know I think she would say what Richella said. Did you read her blog? Here is what she is learning:
And then, very gently, God brought me back to His word. One more time, He reminded me of what He's asking me to do right now.
"Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship (Romans 12:1, NIV).
Or as The Message puts it:
"So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering."
My everyday, ordinary life. My errand-running, dinner-cooking, dishes-doing, clothes-washing, child-rearing, husband-loving life. Placed before God as an offering.
God helping you. When I told my friend Bill that I just could not get my papers straight he gave me this advice, “Picture Jesus working alongside you and helping you.”
Humm! – Steady now. Everything is under control.
I am learning that in the middle of all the ordinary things in life – the circus acts – to see my life as something that God cares about in extraordinary ways. And this is looks like grace that builds - God acting for me and with me.
Steady now. Everything really is under His “direct knowledge and control”. So plan a work day – Jesus working with you to do something that needs to be done. And then why not plan one slow-paced restful day in March with Jesus by your side?