Busily persevering…
Today was one of those days, as Saturdays usually are. We checked to-dos off of the never ending list that parents never warn you comes with adulthood. We provided shelter, food and education for our children, most of it never fully being appreciated, a lot of it messy, and quite a bit of it smelly. We pressed through those messy, bratty, smelly moments for the unadulterated joy of just one “I love you Daddy” and ketchup-in-my-hair hug. We breathed several hundred breaths of crisp winter air, longing for Spring, or at least some snow to give the cold a purpose. Oh, and at the end of the day, we ended up one day closer to death.
I don’t know about you, but my thinking moments don’t come when my head hits the pillow, but rather are formed in the midst of everyday existence. It may be a Christian power-slogan, but in pressing on to make Christ my prize, there is always in the back of my mind a tugging.
Life. Becomes. Intentional.
And busyness is not intentionality.
I tend to wear circles in the carpet with my mental pacing, taking one step at a time to nowhere in particular. The lens of silence reveals my wandering, so I try to avoid doing nothing at all costs. Entertainment, useless information, or just plain activity all blur the silence, but again:
Busyness is not intentionality.
So I sit here and ponder these thoughts, and I am again reminded of Jesus’ tendency to withdrawal to quiet places for contemplation. It makes sense that we must pull ourselves away from the constant in-your-face power the world has to distract us from Reality. I long to meditate on Christ not to free myself from thought, but to pierce through the clouded veils of this present illusion and make Him my lens. Silence is a terrible lens of its own accord, for it only allows us to see the shadows.
On Christmas eve, my pastor, Matt Chandler, related this to Plato’s allegory of a cave. In this allegory, Plato talks of prisoners who are chained to the wall of a cave, and are only able to see the shadows of things passing in front of the cave. Most of the prisoners begin to ascribe life and meaning to these shadows, and eventually forget about real life entirely. There are, therefore, two types of beings – those who are content with the shadows, and those who strain to see the shadow-casters.
As Christians, we must go one step further – we are not trying to find the casters, but the Light! This is our one indwelling passion, and worship does not exist unless we are not satisfied with less than Him.
This is how to, as Paul advised the Thessalonians, to pray without ceasing – to make Christ our sole treasure. All emotion, direction, and passion are made captive to this one beauty – the joy of Christ in all things. We do not need a list of moral codes or fifteen-minute quiet times to be righteous. We need only have our goal be glorious enough. If it is, our love for God and our joy in being satisfied in Him will breed obedience, submission, success, righteousness.
If it is not, we will achieve our goals in this present time, and with no place left to go, will fester in our “success” and breed pride and narcissism. Hey, but at least we will look really good.
From someone who thinks he looks really good at times, please pray for me.
-MB
Matt this is so on target. It’s not always the assurance of free time here or there to spend quietly that keeps us in constant touch with the Lord. Not that those times are not needed or nice, they are glorious in themselves. But I am struck by the practicality of what you, and originally Paul, are saying. That each step, each decision, each action, each thought must be part of our continual communication with Christ. At its most simplest, prayer is our path of communication with the Lord. Obviously not the only path, but the primary path. If we maintain the intentionality you speak of, then with each move we make, our minds should be on the eternal, on the Lord. Asking ourselves prior to each maneuver – what would Jesus do? recommend? think if? (it’s a wristband cliche, but it’s true). This is how it becomes continual, perpetual – intentional. Making sure our steps, in the busyness or in the quiet, lead us to the satisfaction of our eternal Lord should be at the heart of a Christian’s walk.
He deserves, even more so He demands, to be the center of our hearts. Our ultimate desire should be to please Him. And as I know all too well, we are not out to please him in the here and there, but everywhere. In all places of our lives, at all times. The only way to even come close to this goal (remember our walk, our growth, does not end until we die and are with Him – will it even end there?) is to seek His will at every moment, at every turn – it is to perpetually seek Him. Thus, the intentionality that you speak of, Matt, is the only humanly possible route to continual prayer, and to fulfill our beautiful desire to be pleasing in His eyes.
In short, Matt, I agree completely.