Our crazy kitty Ruby (a teeny Aslan in our household) looking fierce.
"Blessed is the one who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God."
June is shining in all its green glory. Early morning bike rides have left me wonderstruck at the verdant beauty of the country roads surrounding Lagom Landing. The gift of cool morning air combined with deep beauty and some wild hills bring a deep awareness of LIFE.
Each morning this invitation awaits, yet I often find myself too preoccupied to accept. When I am out on the bike I am overwhelmed at the feast of wonder offered up. I think of the Moody Blues' song, "Watching and Waiting": "Don't be alarmed by my fields and my forests--they're here for only you to share," and yet the distractions of life can keep me from accepting the invitation.
How often we are like the folks in Luke 14, invited to the great banquet, only to come up with a myriad of excuses as to why we can't attend. My personal favorite is, "But I don't have time, Lord." Yet if I listen very carefully, I hears a still, small voice asking, "What DO you have time for, Rocky-Boy?"
Looking into my own hesitancy to accept the invite, beyond the preoccupation and busy-ness, I find fear.
Jesus came that we may have life and have it abundantly. How easy to put a pollyanish spin on "abundant life." Yet, LIFE is a full spectrum experience. What is it like to abundantly experience LOSS and VULNERABILITY, not medicating ourselves with food, alcohol, TV, exercise, or other distractions? Is it not far easier to be "comfortably numb" (to quote Pink Floyd), than to be Fully Alive?
I think of Eustace, who was turned into a dragon in C.S. Lewis' Voyage of the Dawn Treader. To become a boy again, Aslan needed to peel the dragon skin off layer by layer with his sharp claws. Each succeeding layer grew more painful, yet it had to happen for Eustace to become fully human again.
So my questions to all of us are, "What dragon skins stand in the way of our going to the great banquet offered to us this day? What needs to be peeled away, put aside, or exposed to healing light? What repeating tape of excuses keeps us from accepting the invitation to the Feast?
Perhaps it is time to put aside F.E.A.R. (False Emotions Appearing Real), open the door a crack, and take a peek at what is offered to us.
Not all of the dishes at the feast will be to our liking, but as my mom used to say, "Spinach is good for ya, and Humble Pie is Healthfood."
Life has no limit if you're not afraid to jump in it (Mason Jennings)!
Jump on in!
Love,
Rock
