Computer in lap, I sit in a chilly airport, waiting for a flight. Attendants deployed to Buffalo. Searching for more. Fog and rain persist outside the window, but this is an island of total calm in a week faster than a speeding bullet, or light, or any number of other ragged, worn similes.
Change is life. Life is change. No change, end of sentence.
There are days when I stop and ponder if I can possibly cram more learning into my brain. Days when my fingers hover over the keys, searching the screen for clues, plunging into uncharted territory. Did I get the URL in the right spot? Does the link work? Did I remember to translate the data to a neutral pad before posting it? Will I crash the whole website?
And yet, my world has rapidly become more nimble and multi-dimensional; hence I must too
Other questions hover close by during this, my yearly planning week. What systems work best in 2010? Where should I invest my time? Which projects are high priority among the many clamoring for attention? Is my blood pressure up because I’m balancing too many plates in the air, or does this pace just keep my mind alive and well?.
And then, the ultimate question. As I move forward, sometimes at warp speed, have I allowed space for the Holy Spirit in my own life, and in my workday? I’m not trying to suddenly go spiritual – illustration, question, plunge in the knife. I am not questioning the need for change. I’m simply examining my heart.
God is more than capable of keeping pace with change. The God who designed the speed of light and the mechanics of the speeding bullet is far greater than my time and space. I would say God is the author of change. Change is not a moral quantity. Good and evil are not inherent in technology or lack thereof, in systems, in methods. It is how we use the tool that adds the value.
I also believe that God makes us as we are. God made some who contemplate while others are designed to move. Marys and Marthas. Yet Mary received the commendation while Martha was both the scolder and the scolded.
So while moving at warp speed, I need to seek Mary moments, and remind myself not to have a Martha tongue. I am forced to examine whether it is the excitement of change and speed that brings me a high or the fact that the new system, new accomplishment, new learning is something God has put in front of me for His use.
Flight staff arrive and are deployed. It’s time to board and fly. I’ll move my contemplative spirit from the terminal to the plane, put away my technology and saturate myself in something that is older than time but changes daily to meet the new demands. There’s a little Bible in my bag.
I think I need some Mary time while I fly.
