This morning I left my car in to get new tires and took the wait time as an opportunity to go for a run along the nearby Shingle Creek Trail.
At the trail junction above an elderly cyclist motioned to me for help. He was obviously on a formidable long distance bike ride, a many paged copy of detailed directions in hand. He wanted my advice at this unanticipated TRAIL CLOSED sign.
“I’m pretty sure you’re meant to go up there where I’m going.” I happily offered. But he didn’t seem satisfied, and was obviously more serious about getting this ‘right’ than I was signaling.
I ran on, waiting for him to catch up and pass me. But he never did. It did prove to be the right trail, and I thought, “Too bad he didn’t – just relax and trust me.”
My enjoyment of the run was momentarily interrupted as I briefly reflected on this man working so hard to make the most of ‘retirement’ presumably after a life successfully dedicated to “making a living.”
Momentarily I doubted my joy. Should I have been spending this hour working on the computer to find a recording deal… so the songs I’ve been given could reach the masses….rather than on a ‘self indulgent’ run?
I remembered how when I was lead to leave medicine Dad confirmed our life’s focus would not be to “make a living” but rather to “live a making”. In other words rather than following a conventional career path he was inviting us to go a ‘road less travelled’ whereby he would write our ‘job description’ for each new day.
Questioning what I am doing has often happened over the last 44 years, but as I consulted ‘wisdom’ yet again, I quickly came to peace….. and ran on.
I believe we now are in the time of The Redemption Story, where the ‘body of Christ’ is in the ‘quiet years’ before being joined with Jesus our head at his coming. We are told ( Luke 2) that in those years he grew in this ‘wisdom’ which I believe is coming into unity with our Dad’s voice which is more present, simple and practical than we often imagine.
On this our 44th wedding anniversary I turn again to Ps.4:4 where we are instructed to ‘dialogue with Dad in your hearts in the language of truth and grace rather than debating with the devil in your heads in the language of shame and fear’ (My paraphrase)
He wants us to move beyond a traffic light relationship (“Yes”. “No” and “Maybe”) to a living conversation “…..and this is life; that they may know you….” (Jn.17:1) for the heart of this “knowing” relationship is communication in the heart.
I noticed a stagnant patch of water.
I kept running along the trail to it’s end. As I turned I paused to notice the flowing stream that had replaced the stagnant pool:
“You know a thing is ALIVE when it is MOVING!” Dad said
This confirmed what I had been learning from a Hebrew language scholar where every word can be traced back to a three character action verb.
For example when in Genesis 1 we are told God made man “in his image” it would be more accurately translated, God made man “equipping him to image”. Connecting with the living Spirit of Christ within us to live the life of God in this world is life’s purpose. It is not to arrive at a future noun called heaven but to find LIFE here and now as a present verb.
Then this morning my bible ‘fell open’ at Jn1:1 where the TPT rendered this beautifully “In the beginning was the Living Expression”
Now walking the last stretch to Discount Tires, I noticed where 5 years ago I would have gone to wait with coffee and bagel.
I chuckled, “After 44 years of living with ‘wisdom’ I am getting to know her voice better…. simple, present and practical…….
….Bulletproof coffee : – )”
Another ‘gem’ this Hebrew scholar shared was how he noticed in the language, masculine relates to potential, feminine to that potential being actualized!
I glance up from the computer to the congratulatory card the fellow students in the year of ’78 gave me when in ’75 I was the first in that year’s Med’ school to marry! Little did I know that 44 years later I would be living in Charles Schultz Twin Cities playing the role of Charlie Brown….thankfully with a better helpmeet than Lucy would have been to enable me to actualize potential : – )
Back sitting in my re-tired car, I opened my emails and found this message following on from last week’s blog:
“O. M. G.
You will never guess what I’ve been dealing with this week.
MRSA and thoughts of WCS!!!
My jaw dropped when I read the first part of your blog and you referenced this very thing.
I had maneuvered through my thoughts and feelings on the situation, settling on “whatever glorifies God the most, let that be done” and here you are saying that that is a purified heart. Wow.
Barb.“
W.O.W. indeed Barb! (Wonder Of Worship)
I reckon I did hear “wisdom” again today….. that record deal for the masses just wasn’t meant to be…..but that blog last week for a few friends was.
….. and now hopefully this one too : – )
P.S. Barb just gave me the update that she is on the mend physically, grateful like us for the brief encounter with the specter of MRSA
……confirmed in that inspired thought I had from Dad, “….just relax and trust me” : – )