Being chased by chairs

The tranquility of the shopping street was shattered one sunny morning by the yelping of a dog and a strange metallic clattering.   Suddenly a crazed greyhound came scrabbling around the corner, weaving between shoppers hotly pursued by a cheap chrome bistro chair.   The chair which was attached by the other end of the dog’s lead, seemed alive like a dancing snake weaving and flailing, striking and biting at that terrified animal’s rear.   A movement must have made that chair twitch, which made the dog jump, which had made the chair leap, which had made the dog run pursued by a terrifying piece of metal.  The faster the dog ran the wilder the chair’s pursuit.  (Peter Greig, How to Pray, p36).

This funny story illustrates Pete’s point that we can live our lives sometimes like the demented greyhound, driven and disoriented by irrational fears, pursued by packs of bloodthirsty bistro chairs, too scared to simply stop.    With so much changing and happening in our lives and context at the moment it is easy to feel uncertain and apprehensive and even a little afraid at times.   I certainly wouldn’t call it irrational to be careful of Covid  and perhaps even more so to be afraid of the economic climate and changes to people’s livelihood. 

But this is my point.  These genuine concerns help us to stop and look at some of the more irrational fears and drivers that previously may have had not dissimilar a role to the chairs the dog thought was chasing him.  Covid has removed some of these “chairs” by the simple fact that so many things stopped. Much of the frantic movement and inner turmoil that marked aspects of western society eased.   Our newspapers are not so full of frivolous news and there does seem a sense of a more measured take on things.  When there is a pandemic around and such economic uncertainty it does throw a certain sobering daylight on some of our previous ‘fears’ and ‘drivers’.

The bible also talks about such a recalibrating of our lives.   God speaks firmly into the cacophony of human activity, in the words of Psalm 23 He makes me lie down.  Into the ‘unexamined momentum’ (I wish I’d thought of Steve Aisworth’s wonderful phrase!) of our lives his voice is waiting for us to slow down and listen.     Maybe we can take time to examine the momentum of our lives and what are the things that pull and push them along. Some of it is fine and healthy, other aspects not so much.  What are the voices or memories from years ago, that have long outlived their authority or right to speak into your life?  What are the dispositions and habits that have their roots in our learning to survive and navigate this wonderful but scary world but which are now preventing us from thriving and growing?

Most of all though God wants us to stop and face our “chairs” and know that we are loved and created by him to be in a relationship with him.  This gives us a purpose and security and sense of direction which provides the freedom to be free of fears and drivers.   Such stopping and listening can change our lives in the most profound ways over time and liberate us into that ‘perfect love which casts out all fear.” (Apostle John.)