As I posted earlier, this season of my life is quite strange and challenging, but in a new way. I have never been this old! In fact, my head and heart are still young, though the face, not so much!
I don't mean to imply some inner struggle, as we have been blessed abundantly. Our church life is quite amazing, the Word spoken into our life each Sunday is always refreshing. We are even participating in a small group, with rich fellowship. If you know me, that's quite a compliment to the group, as I am not one to just sit around a table and talk about outcomes!
As mentioned in a previous talk with the local Chamber, using Lencioni's Six Types of Working Genius as my template, Enablement and Tenacity are my Frustrations. Discernment and Galvanizing are my Genius, though Wonder and Invention are Competencies which I can offer up when necessary!
My life has always been about impact!
"I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work, the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake." I quote, George Bernard Shaw.
Where am I going with all this?
This morning I find myself reflecting and evaluating my current impact relative to my earlier days, having just read Luke 17:6. I used to be able to move Sycamore trees and I don't mean by way of a chain saw!
"And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you."
This is a proof text often used to downsize one's faith quotient, sufficient to provide folk with hope when tree removal seems a challenge. The sad thing is, we do church better than ever, but seldom see true "sycamores" removed!
There was a time when I was more than a simply purveyor of hope and I don't think it was just my youth.
When I came upon such scriptures, I was challenged to live accordingly, and I went looking for trees!
Whether it was a friend with cancer, a peer struggling to make ends meet, a marriage on the rocks, or remedy for some community-wide dilemma. I believed all things possible, and I have stories to back up my spiritual assertiveness!
As I now proof read this very post, I am sounding like some religious wild man!
I miss that!
Not sure if this strange moment in my life is not about some senior restart, or just a natural reflection, one that begins late in life, akin to what we call mid-life struggle?
Back then, it was about considering the next graduate degree, better positioning my self professionally, and I went after all that as well, in fact more than once.
However, nothing has ever scratched my itch like stepping out in faith as a young new-born, without any particular religious credentials and witnessing some miraculous moment. One as unexplainable as plucking up a large sycamore tree, and planting it in the sea.
Such language defys gravity, plant physiology and chemistry! I was all into that, and apparently captured a little attention among the religious leadership around me, though that honestly had not crossed my mind.
I soon found myself in denominational leadership, with multiple invitations to join a church staff, one pastor even recommended that "I settle down and serve God!" Uhmmm?
I was about "city-reaching" and perhaps on steroids!
The thrill of those moments I can still recall, as coalition building began among disparate churches, foundations and even federal funds followed. I was in hog-heaven and wherever I went, "pigs were running over the hillsides," obstacles were simply stepping stones.
This ain't about bragging, just being transparent!
Nor was I some kind've "Camel hair girded" fanatic that folk shyed away from, though John the Baptist was and still is a hero.
I was soon invited to participate on various municipal committees, framing our county's "Unified Development Ordinance", then serving eight years on the Planning Board. I was busy learning the ropes of long-term planning, soon appointed to serve on a committee to draft a municipal document aply named, Legacy.
I even helped deliver on a couple landfills, as well as being encouraged to run for the office of mayor in our small bedroom community. I was there for three terms.
Surely those days were more than some distraction from my spiritual calling, for I was sowing practical seed in ways that at times moved Sycamores that needed relocation!
So now what? Do I just talk about faith, telling war stories to the next generation, while providing a convenient source of hope for others? Worse yet allowing them to settle for hope alone?
Hope is good, but moving trees is far more exciting!
It ain't over 'til the fat lady sings, or as seems more appropriate for most of my audience, God calls me home!!