Listening

It seems lately like life is running at full speed. Between dealing with family, work and other commitments, we are running from one fire to the next, desperately trying to put out this fire before we are called to the next one. In the midst of all the chaos, it becomes harder and harder to listen for the messages that we are meant to hear. And maybe that is the message itself.

I am currently in a class called EFM – Education for Ministry. The focus of the program is biblical, but it teaches through exercises called theological reflections. Each reflection attempts to take an otherwise ordinary incident in our lives, and through a process of progressive abstraction, attempts to deduce a larger and more potent meaning. One of the larger lessons that I’ve gleaned from the process is that everything in our lives has meaning. Whether we choose to pay attention or not to this meaning has implication for our ability to acquire wisdom and ultimately grow as humans.

And so this frantic pace may be an incident of its own. Instead of being consumed by those who demand of our time, instead of being preoccupied with deadlines, take a moment to listen for the greater message. After all, if we are distracted by other tasks as we attempt to complete the project before us, the product of that labor is diminished. It is simply not our best work. While that may be reality (multi-tasking anyone?) who can argue that our highest and best effort is not realized?

Take a moment periodically to empty your mind and focus on nothing. Listen for the message that comes. Some might call this meditation, some might call it prayer, but for the sake of argument, call it personal time. You might just find that the message that comes is an epiphany that you’ve been waiting for all along.

Peace,
Chief Mudflap

Keep Hope Alive

One of the “new realities” of the current economic climate is an almost certain sense of uncertainty about everything. Institutions of seemingly infinite duration are suddenly in peril. From the automakers, to Wall Street institutions, to charitable megaliths, there is no shortage of stories about hard times. Heck – I even saw Kyra Sedgwick doing a commercial the other day, and I had to wonder to myself if this was due to her husband’s (Kevin Bacon) losses in the Madoff scandal.

In the midst of all this chaos, I have to wonder what has happened to hope. I know that people have hope in the next life – that is the basis of our collective faith. What I’m wondering is if there is hope in this life. Do people have hope that we will be able to pull ourselves out of this mess?

In my opinion (and this is a blog so I’m entitled thank you very much) I believe there is a delicate balance between hope in this world and hope / faith in the next. When the balance tips in favor of the next, that’s where suicide bombers come from. That’s where workplace violence comes from. When a person has no hope in this life, where there is no expectation of things getting better or a brighter tomorrow, that’s when things can get dangerous.

And so I wonder with great trepidation on the state of our world and the capacity of our elected (and otherwise) leaders to preserve hope in this world. While I pray that someday I might see heaven in my next life, I also pray that I won’t see hell in this one.

Peace,
Chief Mudflap