RECAP
For all of you new to the Tuesday email: Welcome! This quarter, we’re in a series focused on three dimensions of life that we offer to God daily so that we might become who He made us to be. These dimensions are our attention, our emotions, and our limits. Last year, I released a short book on this topic, and I’m writing here to work out my ongoing thoughts about each dimension as I follow Jesus.
If you want to catch up, we began by looking at common obstacles to life with God (speed of life, attachment, and expectations). Then, we looked at the gift of our attention (your most precious commodity) and how it is manipulated for profit. Heeding the call of Romans 12, we discussed the necessity of cultivating a transformed heart and the tension of insight and practice.
This week: Listening to hear God, yourself, and others.
My first car was a 5-speed stick shift; a red jeep that I loved dearly. I also stalled out a lot that first year. I remember a stop sign where I stalled out three times in a row with my friends in the car, across from a car full of girls we knew. Not long after that, I quit stalling out and learned to go fast.
I have forever since enjoyed driving a stick shift. There are few things like the connection with the car you have with three pedeals instead of two. The ability to use your hands for anything other than driving is nice, but it isn’t the same.
There’s something to feeling the tension rise as you reach the top end of the gear, only to feel the release as you shift to the bottom end of the higher gear. There is a widening capacity, even as the engine keeps working. It’s pretty incredible.
Lately, life has felt like the high end of the gears, and somehow it keeps shifting up, creating more pressure and speed on an engine that can only handle red-lining for so long.
If I’m losing you on the car imagery — I am once again trying to handle the speed of my inner world and outer world. My job has expanded, my kids have grown (as have their activities), and our marriage is maturing as we transition out of the little kid phase and into midlife. I’m finding that taking care of anyone in these spaces, let alone myself, is a real challenge while living at speed and under pressure.
In fact, about a month ago I sat at breakfast trying to explain how badly I needed to get out of town. Two weeks later, I did. I hit a dirt track road that I’ve known since childhood and got 24 hours off the grid. It wasn’t so much as to escape the noise as to ask a question before the Lord and give myself time to listen:
When there is only so much I can cut out of my life, how do I lower the RPM’s of my heart so I can be more present in my life?
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