Battery Check Part Two

 

Yesterday, I invited you to do a battery check in your life.  I encouraged you to listen to your life.  I encouraged you to be aware and awake to the stories you are telling yourself about your life and the running commentary of your mind.  This is a prayer practice that takes time.  Actually, this prayer practice takes a lifetime.  There is no grand prize when you finish line.  This is not something you can cross off your to-do-list.  There is no moment when all the pieces of the puzzle of life finally fit together and you are done. 

 

To be sure, there are glimpses of grace, there are holy hints, there are lights of love in our lives. 

 

Pause with me to name and notice how you have seen the Lord so far in May?  I sensed the promise of new life at a concert with Ethan, talking to Olivia, and savoring ice cream with Gina.  I sense God last night at dinner.  I sensed God’s love as I listened to music and walked in silence.  As I survey what is in the net of my life so far for the month, I see fish (read here experiences/ encounters) that have fed me…and I see a few fish (events) I would like to toss and throw back.  I might be stretching the metaphor too thin, but not every fish (whether it is an experience, encounter, person, or place) will feed you.  And, I also want to be careful not to think that I am such a great fisherman that I have this all figured out; as if to say to God, “I’m good.  I know exactly which fish are good and bad.  You can go do something else.”  I need more wisdom as I sort and shift through the net of life.  I need more companions who will sail the seas of life alongside.

 

May you and I this day and week, be open to what is filling us and what is causing tears in the nets of life.  May you and I listen to the truth that sometimes an irritation can be a teacher and sometimes we need better boundaries.  May you and I continue in this season of Easter to let God co-author our story of life in ways that help us live love and as Easter people.  May this be so for all of us.  Amen.

Battery Check

 

The other morning, I was out for a jog and my Fitbit watch vibrated on my wrist.  I looked down to see an image of a red battery declaring I only had 5% left.  Even as I tried to hurry home, the watch shut down, turned off, and went blank. 

 

The battery gave out.

The watch stopped counting my steps and calories.

Whomp, whomp…insert sad face emoji here.

 

I sometimes wish my soul had such a feature to tell me when I was running on empty.  I wish my soul would shout out, “Hey! Time to go walk in creation and leave your cell phone at home!”  I wish I would get a text message from God saying, “Wes, remember the church will be okay without you racing and running all around.  You don’t, like Peter, have to haul the net ashore all alone.”

 

The truth is, that actually happens, I just don’t pay attention.  There are moments I feel agitated or take out my anger ~ which is my soul saying something is not right.  Instead of asking what the irritant is trying to teach me, I push the pain off on others or blame “them”.  There are times when the constant drip, drip, drip of negativity weights down my heart and yet I keep consuming more bad news, wondering why I don’t feel so good?  The constant overflowing calendar at once can exhaust us, but secretly our shadow side likes to know that we are needed and necessary.  Yet, is life lived at a blur the best way?  When do we, like Howard Thurman, sit under an oak tree to listen?  When do we, like Wendell Berry, rest in the peace of wild things?  There are times when I need to go read a good book or laugh with my family or just breathe and be.

 

One of the ways we can tune into how our soul is doing is to listen.  Listen to the stories we are telling ourselves and others about life.  Are we talking only about the bad things?  Are we so laser focused on the brokenness out there, while our internal color commentary in our minds continually points out all our flaws?  See how lethal that combination is ~ when the outer and inner worlds are so tattered and torn the nets of our life often feel empty.  When the internal and external world are lacking, the nets of our life won’t catch anything.

 

Too often we reduce life thinking that you are either pessimistic or optimistic ~ you can either see the glass half full or empty, “thems” are the choices I was told as a child.  But there is a way to be thankful for the water in the glass!  There is a way that allows space for both lament and love; for both tears and laughter; for both grief and gratitude.  This is a muscle we need to exercise regularly.  For example, this week, our son will graduate.  My heart is so full it could burst.  I feel both joy as I look back on the last 18 years as well as seeing the boneheaded mistakes I made.  I rejoice as I see him grow up and sometimes wish for those sleepless night when I would carry him in my arms to get him to fall asleep (never thought I would want those days back!)  I know the tears of joy for this important transition, something is closing, and something is beginning.  All this and so much more sits on the shelf of my soul. 

 

To do a daily battery check is part of these morning meditations.  To hold the question, how is it with your soul?  Or to use the question from last week, what is caught in the net of life?  How can the things on your calendar ~ events and experiences ~ open you to the Eternal?  Where is there space on your calendar?  One way to charge your battery is through practicing gratitude.  Another is by sitting long enough to slow your breathing.  Another is to keep completing the sentence, “I have seen the Lord…”  Another is to sing.  Another is laugh.  Another is to do something that makes you feel alive; like writing bad poetry as I often share with you. 

 

The world needs people who are fully alive, Howard Thurman said.  How are you embracing and embodying that quote this day and this week?  May your responses help charge the battery of your soul each and every day.  Alleluia and Amen.  

Prayer for the Net of Life

 

Gracious God thank you for this week, for the vast variety of experiences and events that has filled the net of my days.  Thank you for ordinary moments when I sensed Your grace by doing something that was routine – dishes or laundry or going to the store.  Thank you for moments when a tear or a rip in the net of life was repaired as a friendship was mended; thank you for a time when what was tangled/twisted problem was smoothed out.  Honestly, O God, there is still much in the net of my life I would like to fix, and I often miss the goodness of the daily catch in life.  I get so caught up in what is missing or could be better, that I miss the fish of Your love feeding and sustaining me.  Help me feast on my life.  Help me show up and open up to You and to this day You have made.  Help me enter the holy mystery and participate with You on art project of life.  Let Your love be my guide and ground me and be found in me every moment and in each interaction today.  All this I pray as I seek to live the Easter mystery.  Alleluia and Amen.

Morning Meditation

 

Today, we pause and breathe.  Today, we reflect on what has been caught in your net this week.

Where has there been a moment of joy?

Where has your heart felt heavy?

 

Breathe in the goodness, breathe out thanksgiving.

Breathe in the hurt, breathe out the ache.

 

What has filled the net of life so far?

What has drained you, left you worn or torn as you hold the net of life this week?

 

Breathe in the holy hovering, breathe out moments our hearts overflowed.

Breathe in the moments our like Peter we tried to haul in the net all alone, breathe out the obligation to solve everything.

 

Breathe in the holy questions that guide us, breathe out the need to know every step along the way.

 

Guiding God, let Your wisdom find space and voice in our lives with every inhale and exhale this day and this week.  Alleluia and Amen.

What's in YOUR Net - heartbreak and hilarity

 

Did you know that yesterday, May 10^th, was National Clean Your Room Day?  I thought, according to my mother, that was every day!  Today is National Eat What You Want Day…but only if you cleaned your room, Mister!  Tomorrow is National Odometer Day, which makes me wonder, why is that a thing? 

Yes, we could be critical and cynical, make a sarcastic comment about how there is a day for everything.  Or, we could laugh and hold this lightly, be in on the joke ~ find the joy in these days.  Yes, it is a little strange to have a day designated to hummus (which is on Friday) and apple pie (also Friday ~ so your menu for that day is now planned!).  But I also think that there is joy in celebrating the obscure and odd ~ like National Dance Like a Chicken Day on Saturday.  Too often we are caught up in the heartbreak and we wonder, “Where is God?  Why doesn’t God just swoop in like a Superhero and solve all these problems for us?”  This is an ancient question.  When we read Scripture, we see questioning has always been part of the human condition.  You could turn to the stress and struggle of the people in Egypt enslaved.  They are liberated, only to wander in the wilderness for forty years ~ that’s a long time and a lot of walking.  They reach the Promise Land ~ yay!!  But Moses dies before crossing over ~ gratitude and grief sit side-by-side.  The people of God settle in, but immediately they want a king, someone to rule them, tell them what to do, even though they have God’s guidance and fled from Pharoah ruling over them and telling them what to do (notice the contradiction?).  Over the years the kings are fully human, they do good things and some not so great things.  Eventually, the people are conquered and carted off to live as foreigners in a foreign land of Babylon.  Prophets try to call people back to right relationship with God.  Often, the prophets words to change hearts fall flatter than my jokes on Sunday morning.  Eventually, God enters this world in the vulnerable form of a baby born to unwed parents and laid in a manger ~ how is that for a grand entrance?  Jesus was a poor, itinerant preacher from a minority religion, who is eventually crucified as a common criminal of the state on a cross ~ when you hold our sacred story this way it really does give us pause to ask: what really is the definition of successful?  And sprinkled throughout Scripture is Sarah laughing; David dancing before the Ark of the Covenant; Jonah being swallowed, gulped, by a whale; and Jesus laughing as he tells parables that perplex us still today.

 

Joy is built and baked into the story too.  Heartbreak and hilarity are all part of the holy.  We just tend to focus on one or the other.  So today, May 11, thank a receptionist and school nurse ~ both of whom are to be honored today.  Tomorrow write a poem in honor of national limerick day (It is a thing according to the internet).  And on Saturday, do something to honor National Stamp Out Hunger Food day as well as practice National Decency Day.  On second thought, let’s make every day feeding others and national decency day for the rest of the month and year.

 

Now, if you excuse me, I need to get ready for Sunday.  No, not my sermon.  May 15^th is national take your parents to a playground AND national chocolate chip day, which I intent to celebrate.

 

Prayer: Thank you, O God, for this day.  This incredible day.  This day that holds more than I could ever explore or exhaust.  Thank you for ways that I can laugh, make a difference, and get caught up in Your unfolding story.  Help us discover ways You are at work in our lives and world.  In the name of the One who taught us how to show up and open up, Jesus the Christ. Amen.

What's in Your Net Today?

 

When Tuesday arrives with a long list of things to do;

And the weather pattern of your soul is gloomy or blue;

You don’t know if you have the strength to see today through;

But you get up, get your coffee and cereal and start to chew;

You scan the headlines, your calendar (your net) searching for something new;

The internal clock says it’s time to go, up and at ‘em, put on your shoes;

You run though the drive through, bank, doctors, life spent in a queue;

You go about your day, so fast and frenzy, the scenery is a blurry view;

Suddenly, you remember the Easter promise, life holds another clue;

To slow down, breathe, hold lightly the good and bad, let God be the glue;

That you don’t have to push, pull, white-knuckle, control, and always stew;

There can be a way of life lived where you exhale and your souls says, “Whew.”

This is the day God has made and God’s love is seeking you to woo;

So you open your hands, heart, let God interrupt and get in a word too;

Let laughter be a prayer; and silence fill your soul; and grace in your heart brew.

There is another way to be in the world today, beyond the gray color of hue.

Rather a hope, peace, joy, and love that is seeking now to breakthrough.

 

I pray today, in this season of Easter, you will find playful and prayerful ways to move about your life.  I pray you will be surprised by the Sacred.  I pray you will be earnest and authentic.  I pray you will be honest and heartfelt as you fish your way through today.  And the above amateur poem of help you fish in life differently today.  With great love to you all!

What's in Your Net

 

⁹ When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread. ¹⁰ Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.” ¹¹ So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred fifty-three of them, and though there were so many, the net was not torn.  John 21:9-11

 

One hundred fifty-three fish, that is a lot of fish.  I picture fish of every shape, size, shade, and species.  A vast variety, a delightful diversity, and an astounding assortment.  Step into this scene with me.  See Peter’s muscles strain and sweat on his forehead as he hauls the net ashore.  See Peter, who was already soaking wet from his morning swim, trying to do it all by himself.  Did you catch that in the story above?  Oh, that one might connect with all my Type-A over-functioning tendencies.  Witness the holy mystery of a moment that Peter had done countless times in his life as a fisherman.  Remember, fishing for many of the disciples was not a vacation, but a vocation.  They had hauled in nets so many times, they could do it in their sleep.

 

But this was different.

 

When the holy shows up in the ordinary.  When God moves amid a moment we are going through the motions.  That can happen in our lives each week and we miss it.

 

As I step into the scene, I also see the humor and joy of it all.  I wonder, why did Peter put on clothes before diving into the water?  But then I wonder why I do the strange and silly things I do.  I wonder, who counted the fish?  Seriously, did Peter go over, haul in the net, then start counting?  Did everyone have to wait for him to finish before they had breakfast?  How long did that take?   

 

But the question that sits on my soul is, what is in the net of your life this week?  You can answer this with the events on the calendar or go deeper with what is on the shelves of your soul.  You can answer that question emotionally or physically or spiritually or relationally.

 

What is in your net?  The vast variety of moments that we both plan and those that show up unannounced on your doorstep.  Remember, we don’t do this alone.  Jesus is already cooking up a sacred presence to feed us as we move about our day.  Or as I said yesterday, Jesus prepares and we participate.  That is a mantra for every day.  This mantra builds on the Easter-ing mystery.  Life doesn’t just happen to us, we show up, open up, and participate.  We get to co-author the story we tell ourselves.  It is collaborative and cooperative with the Creator. 

 

What is in your net as you start this week?  Name and notice, bring to your awareness to what you carry.  As you move about the week, continue to see what gets caught in your life amid the sea where you find yourself.  I pray, deep in my heart, you have more than 153 experiences and encounters with God’s grace and love this week and this makes all the difference.  Amen.