I don’t know what the statistics are, but all of us on this journey of life find ourselves at times, longing to move forward. I’ve been told that for many this begins as a tiny seed, and that, as Mary Poppins would say … is a very good place to start.
A life well-lived is a life that is fluid. A life in motion. A life that matters. A life that is meaning filled. We all can find ourselves stuck from time to time and that can, in itself, serve as that tiny seed which is longing for what I will call the newness of life. Over the course of our living, we all break away (I hope) from the posture of static which is oftentimes a result of our own (so let’s own it) doing. Who wants to stand still while life is passing them by? Perhaps no one. But let’s be honest… the longing to move forward with life is subject to us breaking away from the distractions of life. And that ain’t easy for most folk.
Several years ago I did a sermon series (I prefer message series) which began with this title; Making A Move. That title, from my perspective, was and is a way to transition which of course is the first step to leave where you have been in order to go where you long for. Where we were may not have been a bad place, but it had ceased to be a place where we knew we were becoming. To become is a value all of us desire to accomplish because it reminds us we are not just alive, but that we are advancing in our aliveness!
The famous female painter Georgia O’Keeffe wrote that; Interest is the most important thing in life; happiness is temporary, but interest is continuous. What you and I are interested in should move us long enough to capture us and create in us the agency of becoming. It is in some way akin to Jesus’ point in John’s Gospel that he had come that we may have life and have it to the full.
I stop, not always of my own accord, but often out of the sense that these words of
Jesus clearly seem to announce a life which I have at times lost touch with. Indeed, we live in a world that competes for every second of our attention and Jesus can get lost for weeks out there.
Now, to be sure, there are some of you who are reading this post who are about to move to another screen. Please don’t. I want to ask all of us a question. What do you think it means to be offered a life that is full or a life that is abundant? You can answer this as a mental exercise right now. And in answering you might discover some things privately about your current journey, about who you are becoming.
When we seek to move forward in our lives, I am assuming we are focused on becoming more than we were. In other words, there is a point to our movement forward. What I am going to call “more ness.” I’ve read that given the opportunity to be different, most of us will choose to be like everyone else. Sociologist and Psychologist spend their careers expounding on why this is true. More on that in Part II.
Looking forward to the next installment and hoping you’ll be back. Here’s where we’ll pick up. Most people in your network aren’t interested in WHAT you DO, however, they are deeply interested in WHY you DO IT. Oh, and believe me, this will all pull together!
See you first of the week.
MC
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