Day 80
Full
During my walks on the Pacific Ocean beaches observing the Porpoise, I have a recurring thought: It’s always full. It never seems to appear to be lacking anything. Whether it’s high tide, low tide or in the middle of a tidal change, the ocean always looks full. The ocean is full of the past: The rains, mists, monsoons, streams, rivers, melting snows and glacial runoff. In the absence of these sources for ocean water, we’d have a global dune buggy industry perched on every shore, so we could all enjoy the adventure of exploring the vast expanse of what used to be.
If you’re an ocean, you really don’t have much of a choice about what fills you up. Imagine someone dumping garbage scows of waste on your head, inadvertently sprinkling your food with noxious chemicals, or intentionally channeling pollutants down your throat. What’s wrong? Never considered yourself like the soul an ocean before?
Like the oceans, I’ve concluded that we humans are full of it. We’re full of the past. This book has been about some of mine. We have traditions, rituals, memories, experiences, assumptions, values, beliefs, attitudes, likes, dislikes, customs, relationships, interactions, routines and expectations that keep us filled to capacity. Granted, some of these are essential and healthy. Others, we could live without. Some we opened our mouths voluntarily to consume. Others were crammed down our throats. Still others seem to have grown on us without even recognizing their existence. Like I said, we’re full of it.
Contemplating the ways in which the past fills our present day reality can be overwhelming. The global media would lead one to believe that the pace and impact of change on human beings is at historically unprecedented levels. The experts say that the nature of present-day change also impacts our spiritual lives. Some are characterizing us as spiritual nomads; “Nomadic spirituality, that sense of being alien, strangers in a strange land, is almost a given of contemporary life.”[i] Suggestions like these indicate that we humans are not only full of yesterday, we’re overflowing headed into tomorrow.
Heading into the world of tomorrow, overflowing with the angst of having survived the past, we can easily fall prey to the illusion that tomorrow will take care of itself. There are two dimensions to this deception. The first is that “everything is gonna be all right.” The second is that “I sure hope somebody steps up to the plate and makes it happen, because I’m too busy and frankly, not qualified.” The first dimension is at best, wishful thinking. The source of the second dimension of the deception is “it’s not my job.” Both are an abdication of personal responsibility for making this world a better place for those who are among us, and those come after us. The banks of a river become overwhelmed before they overflow. So do human beings. Contemplate the following:
Revolutionary change does not come as one cataclysmic moment (beware of such moments!) but as an endless succession of surprises moving zigzag toward a more decent society. We don’t have to engage in grand, heroic actions to participate in the process of change. Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can transform the world. To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, and kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places—and there are so many—where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy level to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction. And if we do act, in however a small way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.”[ii]
There are some vitally important terms in the paragraph above. Terms like process, change, participate and transform. Oceans are filled one molecule of water at a time. You were formed and have been reformed one cell at a time. You matter. Your life matters. Your choices matter. Today matters. Tomorrow depends upon it.
If, as the author above suggests, the future is an infinite succession of presents, what we fill our lives with matters. It is my prayer that you fill your life with God, Jesus Christ, the One who has revealed Himself to me in the pages of this book. Imagine living the rest of your life equipped to love like you have never loved before, to avail yourself to be transformed, to participate with others in this process and thereby change this, His world, for the better. You will learn new forms of compassion, sacrifice, courage, and kindness. Get involved today in preparing a better place for those already among us, and a better future for those coming after us. If each of us makes intentional decisions to do this with Jesus, history will duly record what we became full of. This isn’t religion! It’s a way of living that is absolutely foreign to far too many so-called Christians. Don’t contemplate somebody else’s Jesus when you read this. Consider the fact that Jesus has more to reveal of Himself to all of us, as demonstrated not by what we say we believe but how we actually live everyday. This isn’t a job description that requires credentials. “God is not looking for people to work for Him but people who let Him work mightily in and through them.”[iii] It’s a yet to be lived way of life in a post-modern world.
The choice is yours. Join me. Join us. Join Him. May He have His way with us. May we become the people of The Way. A people whose way of living authentically reflects the love and kindness he embodies. A people whose lives reveal we are truly full of Him.
There is a way out of the mess human civilization finds itself in. Unfortunately, too many Christians have positioned themselves in the Way of Jesus, confounding the desires of those who seek to truly follow Him in new and non-traditional ways. Something tells me we might have to empty ourselves of some contents before He can fill us. What’s that look like for you? Then again, maybe you think I’m full of it.
NOTES
[i] Butler-Bass, Diana Christianity For The Rest of Us – How The Neighborhood Church is Transforming the Faith, HarperSanFrancisco – A Division of HarperCollinsPublishers, Inc. Copyright © 2006 by Diana Butler Bass, p. 23.
[ii] Loeb, Paul Rogat The Impossible Will Take A While – A Citizens Guide To Hope In A Time of Fear, Basic Books, A Member of the Pereus Books Group, Cambridge, MA Copyright © 2004 by Paul Rogat Loeb, pp. 71-72.
[iii] Piper, John Brothers, We are NOT Professionals – A Plea to Pastors for Radical Ministry, Broadman & Holman Publishers, Nashville, TN Copyright © 2002 by Desiring God Foundation, p. 40.
