In the Midst of Life...

    As you may or may not have noticed, I’ve not updated my blog in over a month.  Wow!  Hard to believe.  This morning I was thinking about why, and though we can always carve out time to do the things, when I think about it, it just feels like I’ve been overtaken by life.

    Not to belabor the point or sound whiny, but when I think back on the last month, here are just a few things that I’ve encountered: the departure of an employee and training of two others to take over those responsibilities, the receiving of new members, the purchase of a new car and transport of the old car to my in-laws in North Carolina, lots of time and work dealing with a shortfall in the budget, a church fire (literally), the last week of school which included my son’s fifth grade graduation, the kick start of swim season (yes, I’m swimming), and various other topics that have cropped up on the fly.  My wife and I look at the summer schedule ahead and think, “Where has summer gone?”
    Interesting enough, as I have reflected upon the craziness, I’ve begun to observe the lives of others and talk with them about what they are going through, and I find that I’m not in alone.  We’re in the same boat together.  It seems as if everything has kicked up a notch, and the pace has quickened for a lot of people.  I wonder what that is?
    Does it have to do with the economy?  That is, since things are tight, do we keep ourselves more busy so we won’t have to think of it?  Or do we add work so we can make more money?  Or, since it seems the economy is starting to move a little, are we trying to get some momentum going so we won’t be in a slump again?
    Does it have to do with pushing so hard during the regular seasons of the year, that we push hard in our “play time” so we don’t miss out?  I remember in college, we worked hard and played hard.
    Does it have to do with the increase of technology and lack of silence?  When we never unplug from cell phones, iPads, computers, and TV’s?  When the information that is out there comes at us fast and furious and we don’t want to miss anything?
    What is it that beckons to keep us so frazzled?
    I’m thinking that it is a combination of all of the above, and because of human nature, it’s so easy to get so caught up in everything outside and around us, that we neglect to deal with the things inside and closest to us.  Sometimes it is deliberate and conscious and at other times it is unconscious, but it’s easy to get caught up in the pace increase and schedule filling to where we feel overwhelmed, or even worse, we stop feeling and simply forge ahead.
    What is interesting to me, however, is that in simply naming the busyness, it helps.  It helps me to recognize the state I’m in and what I’m facing, but in a way it also forces me to step back and simply think about what’s going on.  It places things in perspective, and when it does, I begin to see God in the midst of life.
    This past Sunday, a central theme to my sermon was an invitation to ask the question, “Where’s God in the midst of this?”  and “Where did I see God today?”  Though this whole conversation wasn’t a part of that sermon, maybe there was some unconscious thought going into making sense of the quickened pace.  Whatever the case, to ask the question forces us to name where we are and where God is, and to do so re-centers us and makes us more attuned to God around us.          

    If one was to go through the Bible, one would read about God’s servants stepping away from the busyness of life to draw closer to God.  We see it in Abraham, Jacob, Moses, David, and it is most prominently in Jesus.  Time and time again Jesus “went away to a quiet place” to pray and simply “be” with God.  It was there that He reconnected with the source of all things, and He was able to align Himself, so that He’d see God in the midst of life.

    It’s been far too long since I’ve written, but what this has meant to me is that I didn’t take the time I’ve needed to simply “be” with God.  The schedule, events...life...have overtaken, and I’ve placed myself and others in the center of life and not God.
    I wonder if you feel the same?  And though this is the topic of another entry, I wonder if the Church only perpetuates the busyness rather than provide a place of sanctuary and connection?  What I don’t wonder about but know, is it’s important to step away, breathe, and simply ask, “Where’s God in the midst of this?”  It makes all the difference.


Where do you see God at work in your life?  Slow down enough to ask the question...