Can anybody relate to the I Love
Lucy chocolate wrapping episode? It
cracks me up every time. Partly because
my life often feels like that way – throwing so much at me that there’s no way
I can keep up. I scramble to maintain
appearances, but it often feels like someone pushed the fast forwa…
Can anybody relate to the I Love
Lucy chocolate wrapping episode? It
cracks me up every time. Partly because
my life often feels like that way – throwing so much at me that there’s no way
I can keep up. I scramble to maintain
appearances, but it often feels like someone pushed the fast forward button and it’s out of
control. There’s something peculiarly
American about this syndrome. Our family letters at Christmas lament
our breakneck pace, but we seem at a loss to do anything about it. The system is designed for failure. We can’t keep up – some part of our life is
bound to break – our marriage, our job and ultimately, our peace of mind.
Jesus didn’t live that way. He waited 30 years to begin his public
ministry. He regularly got away from the
crowds to pray. He winnowed his
disciples down to 12 he could focus on.
We call ourselves Jesus
followers, yet we look more like Lucy than Jesus. Caught up in a life on fast-forward where
something is bound to break.
The answer is to re-draw the
margins in our lives. I’ve gotten in the
bad habit of staying up late in the last several months – it sets in motion a
cascading series of events in my life that erases the quiet spaces where God
can speak to me and help me calibrate my pace.
And if I turn on the computer in the morning, it’s like hitting the
fast-forward button myself. It’s a bad habit and I need to ask myself, “If Jesus didn’t live that way, shouldn’t I pay attention and commit to changing my bad habit?”
When Jesus returned to his disciples
and found them sleeping, he said, “Could you men not keep watch with me for one
hour?”*
I figure he’s asking us the same question on a regular basis. If we keep watch with Jesus, we can see the things that push the fast-forward button on our life. What pushes your buttons?
Receive updates on the latest posts as Seth Barnes covers many topics like spiritual formation, what if means to be a christian, how to pray, and more. Radical Living blog is all about a call to excellence in ministry, church, and leadership -as the hands and feet of Jesus.
WHEEEEEWWWW! It does seem like we’re on the downhill side of the Scream Machine’s big hill! Thanks for the Lucy.
awesome blog! found your link on tom’s blog… just finished fields of the fatherless. love what you guys are doing!
Thanks, Adam. Just talked to Tom now – told me about you church’s deal in Mozambique.
Appreciate the encouragement.