Thursday, July 26, 2012

I Can Count on Bobby McGee

In his (excellent!) sermon on Sunday, our pastor said that among the barriers to real, personal revival was our sin. Of course, he's right, but the idea of barriers to revival is sticking with me, and I wonder if the barrier isn't more insidious than just flat out, easy to identify sins. I think it's also very much about being overwhelmed. Overwhelmed by calendar appointments, committments, and responsibilities, yes; but also, I find myself so completely overwhelmed by too much information. I hadn't even started processing and mourning for the people of Aurora, CO when my heart and mind (thank you NPR) were turned back to Syria again. And then there's the problem of all of those children and families in Haiti that Ann Voskamp posted about last week (Don't you love the ambivalent relationship I have with her blog? Much as her lack of punctuation grieves me, I can't stay away from it.). And I can't forget about the teenage-married-homeless-with a baby couple that my coworker told me about last week. I have to remember to email her, and see if I have any baby things that would be helpful for them. And these are just the things I'm thinking about now, at 7:52 AM...before the workday officially even starts. I'm reminded of Olivia and turtles. She watched an episode of "Monkey See, Monkey Do" a few days ago.  It featured a turtle who repeatedly showed the kids how to "be a turtle": get down on all fours, tuck your knees, elbows and head in, say, "Look!  I'm a turtle!" This is what I want to do. An altered version, underneath my L-shaped desk, elbows and knees tucked in, with something like Ron Rolheiser's The Holy Longing, a cup of really good coffee, and some great music playing. Or maybe a junky paperback. At times like this, I'm not sure the better therapy.  But, as it happens, Janis Joplin's on my Pandora right now. And I'm pretty sure my coworker just made a fresh pot of Folgers. And it is, indeed, time to get to work.

This was very much a stream of consciousness post, as most of mine are likely to be from here on out. Don't spend too much time trying to figure out what the "point" of it was.

1 comment:

  1. Oh, dear sister, I know about being overwhelmed and I don't have nearly as much going on in my life as you do in yours! I like the idea of the turtle position. I took a turtle position for the first time in months yesterday. Just wrapped up in a blanket in the recliner, surrounded by books, unable to concentrate on what to read. Just resting. Sometimes we need that, whatever it looks like for different people.

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