...About the Funk

So I've been thinking...

Ever see one of those commercials (or movies) where a person is standing still on a street or sidewalk, but everything around him/her is moving in fast forward? And all the while, the person is still just standing there...pretty still...while life is just "happening" around him. Zooming by. Ever feel like that guy? Ever feel kind of uncomfortable in your own skin, but you just can't put your finger on what it is that's making you feel that way? It's everything and it's nothing. I know what that feels like. It's a funk. Life seems small.

I've seen some hard times in the last months, but I've come to learn one lesson through it all that has changed my life: "when I'm afraid, I will put my trust in You" [Ps 54]. I can trust God with my life. It's not a cliche. It's real. It's liberating. There's not much you can control in life. You can't control how another acts or reacts. You can't control the ways people hurt you. You can't control the hardships that come your way. We complicate a simple reality: God is already in control. There has never been a single moment since the beginning of time where He wasn't in perfect control. And I look at my little spec in that timeline (a puny 30 years so far) and I still hesitate to trust Him?

So what's this life about then? Why go to work? Why bother caring for people if they're likely to let you down? Why do any of it? Hearing God's answers to these questions for my life has shown me what it really means to keep my eye on the ball - to keep the main thing, the main thing. Living for God and living for others [Mt 22] makes life BIG. It makes life worth living. Hollywood says a life lived with ME in the center is a fufilling one - build up treasure for ME and I'll be happy. How ironic that the most self centered people in the world are wealthy and miserable. Do you think Mother Theresa was miserable? I don't think so. How can that be? Turns out, a life well lived is one lived for others. It's always been about others. It takes a puny 30 year existence and make it count for eternity. So is that what it means to be alive? As I begin to live it, all of a sudden, the game has purpose again.

Distraction and self pity are the most valuable square footage of real estate the enemy could ask for. He'll start there and not relent until he has all of you. God help us to keep our eyes on the ball!