Bouncing Off The Walls

Have you ever done something really silly? For example, have you ever had a panic attack about where your sunglasses were when the whole time they were perched stylishly atop your head? I have. A particularly embarrassing one has to do with a very tired Devon panicking about losing her phone. My dear boyfriend had to gently remind me that I was, indeed, talking to him. On the phone. Sadly, yes. Humans can be silly. We have two types of attention (according to my new psychology professor): "selective" and "automatic". Automatic refers to things that take little to no attention, such as riding a bike or speaking your native language. You don't really have to think too terribly hard or pay special attention to these things. Selective attention refers to things that require our purposeful, watchful attention. Sometimes, I think I spend the majority of my life in a state of automatic. I'm not really paying all that much attention to the things around me. I just run around like a chicken with my head cut off, bouncing off of walls that others can clearly see and I cannot. I'm just not paying attention. It's so much easier to just let myself move through life mindlessly! Well, that's gotta change. And God, knowing me and being Himself, decided to alter my view in a rather touching and comical way.

The past few months (well, the past year, really) I've been praying for a best friend. More than a best friend, really...an accountability partner. A life partner! Someone to do life with who can be a supporter, a friend, and a sister. Someone who will share my beliefs and push me forward in my faith. I have experienced that kind of friendship before and it is such a blessing. As I'm transitioning into my new life here at college, I've been praying that God will bring a new friend/mentor/ into my life. Here's where the lack of attention comes in. I already have one. Do you ever get the sense that while you were praying for something or about something, God was jumping up and down in front of you, waving the answer in your face? Well, in my case, God was wildly gesticulating at my mom. My mother is an amazing woman. Over the past 18 years of my life, she has been my food supply, my bed tuck-er in-er, my discipline, my comfort, my mentor, my friend. She has watched me grow, and honestly, grown along with me. She knows me better than anyone in the world and she understands me, too (which, I must say, is a feat). She loves me unconditionally, regardless of how many hissy fits I throw and how tempted she is to just smack me (or how many times she actually does smack me). She is the best example of a best friend I could possibly offer f you. So why on earth was I praying for something I ALREADY HAVE? Because I'm a silly human who too often finds herself running on automatic and forgets to pay attention.

I think God likes to teach. He's a teacher. Heck, he's THE Teacher. Tonight, he taught me two things: one, that I need to pick up my head and pay attention to the world around me a little more often, and two, that I am incredibly and wonderfully blessed.

P.S., new favorite song. "The Center" by Matthew West. Go check it.

The Journey vs. The Quest: Worlds Collide

What is a journey? What is a quest? Is there a difference between the two? These are questions that many do not pause to ponder, but that can significantly alter the feel and meaning of a story. In my opinion, there is a huge difference between the two, and it is one that should be recognized, particularly because of its relativity to modern life. I would say that a “quest” is a mission: one sets out with a specific purpose. A quest is a time of hardship and challenge that is taken on with a particular end goal in mind. Epic heroes are often portrayed as taking quests: Frodo’s quest to destroy the Ring of Power, Harry’s quest to overcome Lord Voldemort, Jack Sparrow’s quest for immortality, etc. Journeys, however, are longer lasting periods of movement. I would say that often, journeys are filled with quests. We set out on a path (a journey) often not really even knowing exactly where we’ll end up, and are molded, changed, and grown by the hardships and challenges (quests) that we encounter. Essentially, life often becomes a journey full of quests. Without those quests, life can become nothing more than a meaningless trip through time.

This is an interesting concept, especially to those of us who call ourselves Christians. In our fast-paced, modernized society, we often tend to see life as a series of quests, rather than as a journey. We lose sight of the big picture and focus primarily on our goals. Set a goal, achieve it, set a new one. We are so very success oriented that we forget to surrender control to our Heavenly Father. In this sense, we must be careful that we do not become too wrapped up in our worldly quests for good grades, a steady job, and the “ideal mate”. Rather than realizing that our lives are essentially given to us through the grace of our Father and allowing Him to guide us and shape us through the journey He has planned for us (“’For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord,”) we focus on ourselves and our “life plans”. We, as Christians, must remember that our own human, worldly goals are not the “big picture”. Why, though? What is wrong with having goals and focusing on them? Nothing, of course. But the problem is this: we have been given a greater goal, a higher calling, a more important quest. Matthew 28:19-20 is one of the most commonly quoted and memorized verses of the Bible, near and dear to all who call themselves followers of Christ. It says, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in^a]">[a] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you…” This verse is often referred to as “the great commission”. This passage gives purpose to Christians. It gives us a task, a quest, which we are to take up while journeying through life. This passage gives us a way to live life aside from the modern process of repetitive, mechanical goal-conquering. Though we will have human, worldly goals to achieve and quests to undertake, this passage gives us an eternal quest, one that should become our primary focus. In this sense, it almost seems that the two worlds of a Christian collide: our eternal, spiritual quest often battles with our physical, human quests for the place of importance in our lives. As Christians, though, we are called to find the balance and to focus on the task set before us by our Father. A good summary of this view is given in the benediction my pastor offers every Sunday, “Consider your very lives worth nothing if only you may finish the race and complete the task the Lord has given to you: the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.”

One example of a man in literature who seemed to have mastered this art of focusing on his eternal quest rather than his worldly ones is the Paul of the New Testament. In fact, the part of scripture that my pastor’s benediction is taken from is a letter from Paul to a church he had previously witnessed to. Paul, a man who was once a persecutor of Christians, had his life radically changed by God and began a new quest - the quest that was later given to all Christians in the book of Matthew – sharing the gospel with the nations of the world. Paul’s journey through life was a difficult one; he was faced with hardship after hardship, quest after quest. He was cast out from numerous cities, put in jail, and stoned almost to death. Regardless, Paul kept his focus on his eternal goal of sharing the gospel. He allowed God to take him through worldly hardships and “quests”, and many times even thanked God for the hardships he encountered on his journey, saying that they furthered him in his eternal goal. Paul was able to journey through life while keeping his eternal goal or quest in mind.

So how do we balance this concept of journey versus quest? We realize that there is a difference between the world that we live in and the world that we are of. Our journey is of this world; like Paul, we move through human lives and experience human hardships and successes that change and mold and teach us. Our quest, however, is of a more eternal type. We are given the task of witnessing to the everlasting truth that has been revealed to us and of keeping our focus on the world we were made for, rather than the world we were made in.