The Unmovable Rock vs. The Mundane Grind
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
I am in a pickle - i can’t decide what Spiritual Season i am going through.
When i say “Spiritual Season,” I am referring to the idea of spirituality in terms of harvesting cycles.
1. Preparation
2. Sowing
3. Waiting
4. Harvesting
I am trying to figure out if i am simply in the “Waiting” season or am I wasting time not taking action? I am in an uncomfortable place where i don’t know if i’m being lazy or just patiently waiting. Both are torturous in one respect or another. Let me explain.
I have always thought that in order to follow the will of God in one’s life, one has to take action. Guidence comes along the way. A good analogy is that of a rock - a rock that is just sitting there is very hard to give direction, while a rock that is already rolling somewhere is much easier to nudge this way and that and to guide in a certain direction. So am i an unmovable rock right now?
Conversely, it could be that i am merely in the “waiting” season where i must learn patience. It’s like Joseph when he was in Egypt in prison after being falsely accused of raping Potiphar’s wife. He hung around, probably in chains for YEARS. Well, he did get to be in charge of the other prisoners, so i suppose that is one perk. But really, that was not fun at all and probably didn’t *feel* like he was doing God’s work at the time. Is that where I am now? Am i just waiting? Faithfully grinding away at a task that seems to have no real significance?
All i can think is that i need to spring into action.
ACTION. That’s the word of the year.
Sounds like you have this idea of 4 different steps that can only be taken one at a time. Think of a flight of stairs. Could one not have one foot on one step, while the other on another step (whether right next to it or not), then you can actually sit on another, then put your hands on...etc.? I see life as such. Those 4 steps you listed can and usually overlap. Inaction is different from absence of action. Could this be the case with you?
Posted by on 04/21 at 12:33 PMI agree with you in that these stages are not always as clear and linear as i have laid out here. Life is more complex than just 1 step after another.
But about “inaction” vs. “absence of action” - what would you say is the difference? Is one a willful and purposeful inaction and the other a by-product of slothfulness? And in the end, does it make a difference? Do both of them bring about the same result?
So, could this be the case with me? Maybe. I can’t differentiate them enough to give a definitive answer.
What would you say?
Posted by on 04/22 at 07:11 PMThis post has been on my mind all week and I just realized what’s been niggling at me.
Your four “seasons” (ha ha, not the hotel!) are all about YOU. It’s all based on what YOU are doing or not doing.
What if you thought of them as what GOD is doing in your life -
1. Preparation - He is tilling your soil; breaking apart the hard parts; watering you; fertilizing you
2. Sowing - He is pouring into you; putting new life into you
3. Waiting - He is chilling out with you; enjoying you; watching you grow and change and bring forth life; also still watering and fertilizing and weeding when needed
4. Harvesting - He is calling out the things he’s planted in you; He’s scything and threshing and Mmmmm..making bread.
Anyway. To take the analogy just a bit further, the role of the land in all seasons is submission to the Farmer’s hand.
Knowing you as well as I do, Kathy, your struggle is RARELY that you are not busy enough for God. One of your greatest strengths is of course your achilles heel - your desire to be involved and active and Doing Something often puts you into a frenzy of striving where you forget that it is HE who is doing a good work in YOU.
So, I would say, no matter what season you and God are in, my guess is that you can’t go wrong with rest and submission.
I love you. Happy Sabbath! *smooch*
Posted by laura on 04/27 at 05:10 PM