Skimming…

In an insightful article titled “Heart Check,” Nancy Beach describes what happens when our hearts become crowded and clouded and numb: “Too often, we end up ‘skimming’ in our key relationships. We skim along the surface, offering the bare minimum to a spouse, close friend, or child. Right now, can you be ‘all there when you are there?’ or are you skimming? How mindful of moments have you been in recent days?” (Christianity Today, April 20, 2005)

The recent film, “Up in the Air” brilliantly observes genuine connection and communication vs. pseudo connection and communication. Have the advancements of the 21st Century helped or hindered human relationships? What do we truly value? What does authentic human interaction mean?

I may think I am well connected because I have 800 “friends” on Facebook, but how many of those friends could I pour my heart out to at 3 am? I may send 500 texts a week, but can I carry on a meaningful face-to-face conversation? Am I connected enough to anyone who can really challenge me to walk with God? A fellow pastor recently lamented to me how many colleagues were in their office, fixated on their computers hour after hour, perfecting their Power Point presentations--and how few were sitting face to face with people in their congregations, talking openly about their lives. He and I are apparently two crazy dinosaurs who still value that stuff.

In a world that praises quantity over quality, flash over substance, multitasking over devoting one’s full attention to any one thing or person, could we have lost something in the translation? It’s so easy to slip into complacency and start skimming life and relationships. How do I stop skimming and genuinely connect and communicate…

With Others:

I know people who no longer communicate except electronically. I find that incredibly sad. With all the technology available, can I still practice “all-thereness” with people? We all know when someone is only half listening.

Am I willing to put time and energy into life-giving relationships? I need lunch out with friends. I need good conversations. I need those people with whom I can just be myself and relax and share anything, whether it’s been 30 minutes or ten years since we last saw one another. What a gift.

With Myself:

When I skim, I cease to fully participate or enjoy anything. We are to put our hope “on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy.” (1 Tim 6:17) The Lord gives us joy in so many ways, regardless of circumstances. When we skim life, we don’t fully embrace His gifts.

CS Lewis says, “Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea.” (Weight of Glory)

When was the last time you…

When I skim life, I cease to be Goodtime Linda…

With God:

Am I hungry and thirsty to know God? Or am I content with “good enough Christianity”? Or do I rely on what I already know, running on fumes instead of fresh water? We serve a God who is an all-consuming fire, but we easily accept lives that are lukewarm at best. Is there intensity and passion in your walk with God?

But the Lord answered and said to her, " Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her." (Luke 10:41-42)

Somehow, I don’t picture Mary texting while she surfed the Internet with her Bluetooth in her ear while she took notes on Jesus’ talk while planning next Sunday’s Sabbath School lesson. One thing.

“One thing I have asked from the LORD, that I shall seek:

That I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life,

To behold the beauty of the LORD And to meditate in His temple.” (Psalm 27:4)

David distilled it all down to one thing. Could there possibly be a value in uni-tasking?

I’m certainly busy, with plenty of “to-do check boxes” on today’s schedule. I can juggle quite a few balls at a time. But I can only follow Jesus and minister in depth when I carve out time to set down most of those bouncing balls and focus on one thing. There is a value in concentrating, in consecrating what I do. I know I can’t do this all day, every day. But my goal is to intentionally integrate healthy holy rhythms which might, possibly, hopefully, eventually color every word, every eye contact, every touch I give another human being. When I practice cycles of withdrawal and engagement, I become focused and filled and empowered and calmed and guided by the Holy Spirit so I can love and serve God and others. Very different than being driven by an agenda in which people become distractions and tasks become all-important.

The goal (and I have definitely not arrived yet) is that my entire life will become a consecration to God. Even the crazy, nutty, maximum-multitasking days will hum along productively--but Spirit-driven--so that my actions and second-by-second choices are the result of centering on the immoveable, unchanging Lord of the Universe. And this also the goal of all I do in Psalm One Ministries.

As 2010 speeds up and fills up and tries to get away from me, I am challenging myself to consider areas of my life where I can stop skimming and dive in. My goal is not to do more this year. In fact, I want to consider areas where I can do half as much, twice as deep. Anyone care to join me?

Seeking to follow,

Linda