Barefoot Journey with Chuck O.

Thanks to different members of this congregation, I’m more aware of cultivating my imagination lately. Cultivating the imagination is one of my SIMPLE activities to keep me on track with feeding my soul this year. Apparently, it is a phrase that some other people have found memorable. During this past week I’ve heard it mentioned here and there – sometimes in a bit of a joke, and sometimes seriously. I appreciate those reminders, whether intended or not, because I need frequent reminders to keep my imagination running on a life-giving track.

I spend more time than usual these days listening to various economic and financial analysts. It has occurred to me that most of what I think about our economic situation is what I imagine. So, it is now most relevant and practical how I cultivate my imagination regarding our national and global economy. How does one do that?

I learned a wonderful lesson on this subject from a member of our Newcomer’s Class. He shared how his mother experienced extraordinary hardship for a good deal of her life. She taught her children to live by this maxim: “What happens to me is not always the best, but I’m going to make the best of what happens to me.” I like this woman already, and I’ve never met her. She isn’t choosing to languish in self-pity, denial, or blaming others. This woman isn’t waiting for the past to change. Rather, she is active in the present working for a more promising future. To do that I have to be quite intentional about cultivating my imagination. Doing so seems to require putting both facts and faith squarely on the table, and designing a response emphasizing personal responsibility rather than blaming whomever for whatever. The economy is a new field of my imagination to cultivate. I have a lot to learn. CO

            This year I am attempting to intentionally feed my soul as opposed to indiscriminately feed my appetites. It is amazing how helpful it is just to write that sentence. Writing the sentence does not fix me up for the rest of the year, or even the rest of the week. However, I am guessing that writing that sentence this morning will do a lot to keep me on track this day.

            Here’s my SIMPLE focus this year. I’ve come up with this little acrostic to help keep my day on a simpler track.

·         nurture Spirit

·         cultivate Imagination

·         preserve Margin

·         embrace Peace

·         Less carbs, more fiber

·         Exercise

Today I am reflecting a bit on Margin. One of the ways I am understanding Margin these days is pace. I remember being on a work project many years ago. We had a lot of repair work to do and only a few days to do so. I showed up loaded for bear and ready to work like crazy. Also present were a couple of old-timers from Oklahoma. They were semi-retired farmers decked out in overalls and faded shirts. They looked the part.

I remember thinking it was good of them to come out and putz around. In fact, they looked like they were putzing. They never moved fast. They never got excited. Consequently, I way underestimated them. I may have had more energy than this pair. But what they had was better: pace. While I worked like crazy they worked like sanity. Decades of practice had given them a pace to work all day without getting utterly exhausted, and being satisfied with what was done while not being too worried about what didn’t get done.

This year I am being intentional about pace. That is a good thing. It is helping me reap the benefits of Margin. It is a way to let the day’s own trouble be enough for today. Actually, it is a way to trust God to be God.

CO

            I’ve been thinking about fruit lately. I’m not hungry. Rather, I’ve been thinking about abiding in Christ, and therefore as He said, I will bear fruit.

            Whatever fruit Christ might bear in my life, like a character trait or a spiritual gift or effective ministry, etc. is like an apple. I can’t make an apple. I don’t care how long I have to work on it with paper and crayons, or hammer and nails, or an arc welder. I can’t make an apple. What I can do is tend the tree.

            What does it mean to tend the tree? I think that is a way of describing abiding in Christ. How does one abide? That is a really important question because when we abide in Christ we bear much fruit in Him. So, I want to know as much as I can about abiding, and do it. Spiritual disciplines or exercises are ways I can be intentional about abiding. I don’t pray to make God happy. I pray because that is good abiding-time. The same can be said of practicing silence, solitude, scripture study and mediation, and so forth. Those are concentrated times of abiding that school me in living the abiding life.

            My current SIMPLE spiritual exercises are helping me in that regard. Today I am especially appreciative of peace. I live a peaceful life. It is a gift from God. It is fruit that has come from abiding. That is a very good thing and I am grateful for that today. I’m also grateful that one doesn’t have to reach some unattainable state of perfection in abiding to begin to see fruit. It simply comes as naturally as an apple on an apple tree when we live an abiding life.

            How good is that?

CO

            Here’s my SIMPLE focus this year. I’ve come up with this little acrostic to help keep my day on a simpler track.

·         nurture Spirit

·         cultivate Imagination

·         preserve Margin

·         embrace Peace

·         Less carbs, more fiber

·         Exercise

This is a sincere attempt to intentionally feed my soul rather than indiscriminately feed my appetites. There is more to my life than those five things. However, those five speak to my condition in some vital ways at this moment in time.

And they work. In the last couple of weeks I have noticed how effective they are in their absence. That is, I’ve been sloppy in adhering to these Spirit-led commitments, and I can tell the difference.

Years ago I asked a friend of mine if there were any personal indicators he noticed in himself that were warnings signs that his spiritual life was getting off track. To my surprise he had an immediate answer, and the answer itself was surprising. He said, “When I quit flossing my teeth.” I don’t have a biblical, psychological, or physiological explanation of these things. Nevertheless, the fact is that we are body, soul, and spirit and those three are all hooked together. I’m not likely to give a sermon on eating fewer carbs or exercising, but maybe I should. After all, when I get sloppy in caring for my body I find myself also lax in caring for my spirit.

In the last few days I’ve been alarmed enough to force my self to get back on the right track in the way I eat, and sure enough, those other five priorities are finding a better groove, too. This is a very good thing. God is in it.

CO

            Today I have been thinking about the sacredness of life. I was reading Psalms 104 in which the glory of God is seen in His creation. “You covered the earth with the deep.” This got me to marveling about our oceans. They are not just big, they are unique. Of all the planets we know enough about to tell, we’re the only one with oceans. We’re not just the third rock from the sun, we’re the only rock with water. We’re the only rock with life.

            If I had a giant anthill in my backyard, and in it were the only ants on earth, my backyard would be made into a national park. People would get their doctorates studying these ants, unique in all the world. An ant museum would be built with interesting exhibits describing the life cycle, eating habit, social networks, and defensive strategies of ants. We would marvel at their engineering skills. People would come from many countries to see the miraculous ant for themselves.

            That is what our planet is in the known universe. Here is the only place where crocuses pop up in the spring. As far as we know, the trees we see are the only ones to see. All the bugs and birds here may well be all the bugs and birds that are. They are certainly the only ones we know to exist. The same can be said of people. Furthermore, in all the universe, as far as we know, we are the only physical beings wondering about origins, loving each other, killing each other, using drugs to destroy ourselves and heal ourselves, loving God and denying God.

Other creatures may live somewhere else in this universe, but the more we learn about our universe the more we understand how far we are going to have to travel to meet them. Our living planet deserves to be a national park – make that a universal park. Life in every form on this planet is sacred. It is sacred because it is a gift of God. It is sacred because life isn’t as common as we thoughtlessly assume it to be.

Life is the most extraordinary thing we know.

CO

In worship service last Sunday I addressed the issue of Cultivating Imagination. Wow, did I receive a lot of good feedback. In a discussion during the service one individual made the case for the importance of cultivating our imagination. He made the connection with being make in the image of our creator. Consequently, our creativity is part of our image-ness, and therefore of great significance. Another individual talked about how he designs software for flight simulators. Pilots learn to fly using the simulators. The simulators are so accurate that when the pilot takes his first flight in an actual jet, there are other people on board. In other words, careful cultivation of our abstract imagination profoundly influences our concrete behavior. Sure it does. So, this helps illumine Paul’s counsel to keep my mind on that which is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent or praiseworthy (Philippians 4.8). That is a proactive statement. I’m going skiing this weekend so let me talk “fall line.” Paul’s counsel is the fall line for cultivating the imagination. It defines direction. It is the straight line about which a person can carve a variety of turns and do some real creative stuff (think X Games) – but it is always and ultimately in the direction of the fall line.

 CO

1-21-09

            This SIMPLE thing is helping me. It is my outline for intentionally nurturing my soul rather than indiscriminately feeding my appetite. Here is the outline again,

·         nurture Spirit

·         cultivate Imagination

·         preserve Margin

·         embrace Peace

·         Less carbs, more fiber

·         regular Exercise

Last week I was reflecting on these words from Philippians: “that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion… it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.” Phil. 1.6; 2.13. This is an amazing statement when you think about it – which is what I was doing. I asked myself, “Since God is at work in me to fulfill his good purposes, what is one thing I can do in response to that gift?” That is, such an incredible gift full of limitless possibilities seems to demand some kind of response. I don’t see how I could look at that and just shrug my shoulders.

Here is what I settled on: I’m going to give God my undivided attention for at least a little while every day. This is not the most revolutionary idea in history. Someone could criticize it for being puny. It is what it is. I have benefited from spending time alone with God several times a week for many years. I’m not starting from scratch. However, there is some sort of realization that has occurred in thinking about these things that has spurred me on to being intentional about nurturing my spirit. I find I am both more eager and committed to finding time during the day to stop everything else and give God my undivided attention.

It is good.

CO

            “Simple” is an important word to me. It is one of those things that is easier to say than do. An expert can easily make something more complicated, but it takes genius to make almost anything simpler. I find that I am pretty good at complicating my life. Maybe that means I’m an expert! However, when I study the life of Jesus there seems to be a quality of simplicity about the way He lived, even though He was immersed in the complexity of real life. I pray I can tap into that genius, and I know I’ll need God’s help.

            So, that’s my focus this year. I’ve come up with this little acrostic to help keep my day on a simpler track.

·         nurture Spirit

·         cultivate Imagination

·         preserve Margin

·         embrace Peace

·         Less carbs, more fiber

·         regular Exercise

That may not make sense to anyone but me. I’ve spent a few weeks refining this and testing it. I like it. I’ll blog regarding my progress.

            Last year I focused on my experience in prayer. That emphasis was very helpful to me. The discipline of writing about my experience in prayer in this blog definitely helped engage me in prayer. So, I’m assuming I’m doing this blog for my own good.

CO

            A couple weeks ago a friend was in dire straits. Her situation was especially difficult. A few of her friends came alongside to travel with her through a dark time. Of course, they prayed and did what little they could do to help out. Remarkably, within a few days her situation was reversed. It was an amazing gift from God.

            This week this individual and her support team received an e-mail from a common friend who lives out of state. It simply said, “You’ve been on my mind, and I’ve been praying for you.” Amazing continued.

            So, I pray.

CO

            I found a great deal of inspiration from Mark 6:47-52 last night as I studied it with a group of friends. This passage includes the events immediately following the feeding of the 5,000. Jesus sent the disciples to cross the lake while He lingered to pray. While He was on the hillside He could see the disciples straining on the oars to make headway into the wind. Hours later He went out to give them a hand. They were straining on the oars while He walked on the water, catching up with them.

            What impresses me is the disciples were straining while Jesus was not. This looks like another variation of the Mary and Martha story. In this story, however, an explanation is given that the disciples’ hearts were hard and they did not understand about the loaves and fishes.

            One of the things I want to understand about the loaves and fishes is that Jesus did it. The disciples had their part to play, but they weren’t, “straining at the oars.” Jesus made it happen. Really. This helped me pray this morning. This adds weight to the significance of prayer. Prayer helps me ease up on trying to do Jesus’ work for Him. This isn’t an issue of workaholism. The issue is one of trusting or not.

            Lord, please deliver me from the hardness of heart that keeps me from trusting You.

CO