Archive for January, 2010
Where Is The Right Balance?
Jan 20th
I know I’ve written about this topic a few times before, but it’s something that I’m wrestling with at the moment.
Here’s the thing. On the one hand, there are huge amounts of people that die every day from poverty. The number is around 25,000 people or so, every day. And they die from preventable things like diseases, lack of food and water, and so on.
Now by Australian standards I’m not rich. My income is below the national average, and my house is at the cheapest end of the scale. But even so, I have enough money locked up in my lifestyle (in my home equity and my possesions) to save tens of thousands of people. If I unlocked some of that money, there is no denying that I have the ability to save so many people. I might be below average by Australian standards, but by world standards I’m in the top 1% of richest people (check where you are - visit www.globalrichlist.com and enter your annual income).
But on the other hand, God placed me in Australia. I was born here, this is my home, and the fact of life is that it’s expensive to live in Australia. The cost of living is high, and it takes a lot of money to live in an average home, put my kids through school, and live life. So I shouldn’t feel guilty about the cost of living a normal life in my home country.
But there’s a tension there. No matter how I look at it, every day that I continue to live this comfortable life, I am choosing to let people die. People that I can help. No matter how much I try to explain it away, if those people were standing in front of me today, my answer to them would effectively be: “I wish you well. But I’m choosing to have a nice dishwasher and surround sound entertainment system, rather than help you”. Surely I can do better than that?
So I’m wrestling with where the right position is for me. At the moment, rightly or wrongly, I feel like I have time to make the decision, because I currently still have kids living at home, and my role at the moment is to provide for them. But they are teenagers now, and in a few years when they’ve left home, all bets are off. I have no idea what I’ll end up doing then, but it will be interesting. And in the meantime, I’ll continue to wrestle with what’s the right thing to do.
Life Is Messy
Jan 20th
We used to have a dog called Rosie. She was a great dog, she loved people, and was an enthusiastic part of the family.
But dogs are also messy. Part of the cost of having a dog in the family is cleaning up after them, sometimes they bark excessively, they sleep on the good furniture when you aren’t looking and make it dirty, they eat your best pair of shoes, they dig holes in your garden, and when you need to be away from your house for a while, you need to organise someone to care for them.
I never really liked this “messiness” about having a dog, and I used to think that when Rosie eventually died, it might be nice to not have a dog, and not have to worry about all that stuff anymore. I loved Rosie, but in those moments when she made be angry because she slobbered all over my biscuit I was just about to eat, I would sometimes think about not having a dog one day, and how it would be nice to not have to deal with the “mess”.
And then one day Rosie did die, quite unexpectedly, and I was surprised that I missed her much more than I thought I would. I miss her joy, love, and enthusiasm she had for me every time I came home from work. And while I do enjoy not having to deal with all the mess that comes from having a dog, the tradeoff is that I don’t have all the good things to enjoy either.
Life in general is like that. If I want to, I can disengage from life and from people, and avoid some of the “messiness” of life. Life can be complicated. People can be messy. Engaging with people can bring things into your life that cause discomfort. But by removing yourself from life and people, you also miss out on the soaring highs that come from real relationships and intimacy.
Life is messy. But I’m learning that diving into the mess and sharing it with people brings a much fuller life than trying to pull back and live a quiet life on your own.
Be Still And Know
Jan 12th
Somewhere around 900BC or so, God is recorded as saying to the Israelites: “Be still, and know that I am God”.
It’s always fascinated me that a God who created the universe, whose power exceeds our wildest imagination, should choose to reveal himself not with loud shouts and incredible signs, but in a quiet whisper. Many times we are told to listen for his small voice in the stillness of life.
Have you ever got up real early before the rest of the world is awake? Before cars are driving on the road, before people are walking down the street? When was the last time you did it?
The other day I woke up early for some reason. It was getting light, but there didn’t seem to be another soul awake for miles around me. It was silent. And sitting there, looking out over the world, all I could hear was myself breathe. And the world looked very different. Away from all the chatter and noise of our 21st century lifestyle, my mind was cleared and turned to more important things in life. Eternal things.
If you haven’t done it for a while, I really recommend it. Get up early, or just go and find a quiet place somewhere. A really quiet place. And listen. If you’re bold, even ask God if he’s there. It will be worth it.
