Are we hurrying past ourselves to where we not only do not know our neighbors; we don't know our spouses, our kids, ourselves. We have given in to a demanding bossy lifestyle, given out by lack of will, and eventually given up.
Enter our friend, Happy Medium. That term solicits a hearer's need to fight off extreme action. Fanaticism is booed by Happy and his sort.
Truthfully, however, we find ourselves often caught between pressures of over-extension of our time to get things done versus bored because there is little to do and we don't like time on our hands. Whoever is in one of these categories would love to meet the ones in the other with the question, How can I live in your shoes for just a few minutes?
Yet, I find Happy Medium to be both an illusion and a cop-out. He is a figment of one's wishful imagination. Middle life will lead, maybe, to neutral life. Nothing productive; but neither bothered nor pressed while occasionally engaged and active; that's what we think we want.
Our thoughts about life could and should be directed toward the Ultimate Life-Giver; Jesus.
What made him tick? Why could he be so productive within the boundaries of extreme simplicity?
Well, let's observe him a bit.
Jesus was in constant alone-time with God. This is an immediate red-flag for our pace. Extreme busyness, or opposing indifference, sways us to avoid time with God. This should change...quickly. If we are too busy (or lazy) to pray, to study the Word, and to ponder our co-existence with Him, we are setting ourselves up for the hunt for Mr. Happy Medium...and we will not find him.
To implement this one action alone would have powerful impact upon our stressed-out and fractured lives. (I just have to laugh right here. Do you have any idea how many interruptions have passed my way while trying to get this message proofed. If you see mistakes in this one....it surely was someone else's fault!)
Too, Jesus was seldom courting Happy Medium. Rather his life was on the edge. Martha tells him he has got to hurry. Lazarus is dead! Jesus compassionately waits two days before responding. Evidently he has spent such quality time with Father that he is not disturbed by wondering how Martha feels (or will feel) about him.
On the other side of the Christ is the cutting edge of being way ahead of God's troops. His vision and imaginational awareness is unmatched. Jesus was walking on the water, successfully, when his gang could only give a best guess that he was some sort of ghost. He blew their minds.
It seems that Jesus was everywhere but in the middle. He could relax when those who loved him pressed in. Too, he could think of Father when suffering extreme pain upon the cross where he was not only in tune with God; but was loving others strung up beside him.
Life in Jesus is not Happy Medium's region. Commitment. Prayer. Compassion. Connection. Christianity is extravagant effort. We look for what we call balance. He calls us to much more than getting by. He calls us to Life! Life isn't balance. It is hearing His call when to say Yes and when to say No. That doesn't take balance. That takes faith and courage.
If you often have days where you feel you are merely spinning your wheels, I'm one who will stand by you in sympathy. The exciting news is that these matters can experience seismical shift when curbing the winds of business or the slumber of laziness.
To truly spend time with the Creator, the Life-Provider, we will have abundant life...He promises....John 10:10.
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