Learning to live off balance

Life seems to always keep me just off balance.

there is always another side to every argument
there are always loose ends in life and in faith
circumstances are continually changing
I as a person am changing
any point of view is only ever a partial one
Jesus is not too interested in my comfort zone.
the big questions of life force us to embrace paradox
the truth often isn't in the middle but at both ends
the bible has awkward yet compelling verses
God is full of surprises
And so on and so on....

I feel the power of different compelling truths, I am knocked off balance again by someone I meet, a conversation I have, something that happens to me, or more often than not something I read. It keeps me from the kind of self confidence that can so easily morph into hubris, from being too set in my ways and from presuming to know more than I really do. Also to be open to the unexpected, to follow the truth wherever it leads and of course find signs of God in the most unusual places and people.

And then just this morning my daughter's fiance Julian, a philosopher/artist who practices skateboard tricks in his spare time sent me, a great quote: Balance is most beautiful just before the tipping point.

We are going to have a big chat about that someday about everything from skateboarding to jazz, love and faith! We value something, a place or a person the greatest and see their beauty most clearly often when we are about to "lose" them through change of whatever kind. It's when we take things for granted that we forget their worth and beauty. A healthy marriage is one that continually refreshes itself, a healthy church or society is able to embrace the changes that happen, whether of their choosing or not.

And then 2020 arrived and our whole world has been knocked off balance, again and again. Just when we think we are getting back to a place of balance we hit another tipping point. We can feel bewildered, punch drunk even a little. Yet in those brief moments of semi normality, when the water stills we see clearly the preciousness of life, our family and friends, a functioning society. Our lives have been honed down closer to their essence and we catch a glimpse of a saner, more beautifully balanced life. We dream of dancing with the tipping points when they come, lighter of weight and nimbler of foot, unencumbered by the desire for safety and certainty, trusting the God who will not let us go, our Divine dance partner.

Comments

A Solstice Nudge

A Solstice Nudge At 3.47am this morning the solstice took place and the earth started its' long journey back towards summer (in the northern hemisphere at least!). I always feel my heart lighten a little when this happens. It’s all about the direction of travel as I have so often said to people struggling with circumstances or a seeming lack of progress. And the fact that I know we are heading towards warmth and light makes all the difference in the dark and the cold. It reminds me that my current situation, however stalled it may feel, will one day pass. Such a change though rarely takes place in a dramatic and obvious ‘before and after’ kind of way. Rather it feels like a nudge. You would have to be looking very closely to notice that little tilt of the earth that starts the process. I’ve just been looking at my weather app and over the next few days the sunset time moves by a minute each day: today:15.44; 23 rd : 15.45; 24 th :15:46 and 25 th 15:47. (yes

Curiosity in Lent

Lent starts on Wednesday and I've decided this year to cultivate curiosity. I'm not sure where this will lead me but it came off the back of a school assembly I led yesterday for 200 17 year olds. I was referencing Jesus' famous saying ' you will know the truth and the truth will set you free'. ( John 8:32). Amidst all the revising for exams and the importance of learning facts and answers I was hoping to inspire them with the sense of wonder they had as children and the curiosity that led them to ask questions. Good questions sometimes are even more important than good answers. After a day today walking with Ina in the Trossachs and hanging out in our van afterwards reading and chatting and snoozing I felt the challenge of my own words the previous morning. Lent is so often seen as a period of contraction, a narrowing of appetites, restricting of habits, scrutiny of motivations etc. It is hard to get excited about Lent the way we may feel during Advent

A deep breath and a covenant prayer.

It’s 9pm on the 31 st of December and rarely have I felt so uncertain about the coming year. There seem way more instability than usual in our national and international systems and given the record of early 2020 and 2021 all bets are off that there’s not something else coming down the track. Or perhaps October 7 th was that and it just came early. Or maybe it is the metastatic fall out from that day which will dominate early 2024. Tonight I’m at the top of a big wave, hovering there waiting, feeling rarely more alive just as the pre-reptilian bit of my brain flashes all the danger signals. A deep breath. And yet I am reminded of the prayer I led my church in this morning, written in the mid eighteenth century by John Wesley and since become an integral part of the Methodist Community’s life. I am no longer my own but yours. Put me to what you will, rank me with whom you will; put me to doing, put me to suffering; let me be employed for you, or laid asid

· stillpoint ·

Search This Blog