It was Tuesday morning and I had a myriad of things to do:
- Get in touch with someone about the backed-up sink
- Let someone know the toilet in the master bath was leaking again
- Pick up meds at the pharmacy
- Unpack
- Fill up the rental car with gas
- Return the rental car
- Fill up our car with gas
- Get foster son to his appointment
Ok, so the list doesn’t seem that long now, but Tuesday morning it seemed impossibly long. And it was one of those mornings where I just couldn’t get it together. I told my son to hustle up and get in the rental car so we could return it. I hopped in and realized that I had forgotten my coffee. I ran inside, grabbed my coffee, ran back outside, closed the garage door and realized that I didn’t have my wallet. So then again, back inside, grab wallet, back outside, close garage. Ok, finally back out of the driveway and head toward Enterprise to drop off the car. “Oh shoot! I need to get gas!” So I pull over quickly and skid into the gas station. (Just kidding Enterprise. I drove super carefully in the rental car.) I put my card in and pulled the hose out to fill up and… the gas tank was on the other side of the car. So I turned it around and gassed up and then headed back down the road.
“You’re just radiating chaotic energy,” my boy said.
And I paused for a moment and realized it was true. I was just spreading chaotic energy into our space that morning, spazzing out about everything and not taking the time to regroup and re-engage. If I had just taken a moment to pause, hit the reset, and then go, things probably would have felt less chaotic.
There’s this great story at the beginning of the Bible where the world is all chaos and darkness and God takes that chaos and creates order—separating light from dark, separating water and land, bringing order into that chaotic space. I think too often people have taken this to mean that this was literally how the world was created. Instead, I think it tells us something far more important:
Our lives often feel like chaos. It often feels like the swirling mess around us is too much to endure. But order can come even amid the greatest chaos. Even when I’m radiating chaotic energy there’s an opportunity to pause, regroup, and recenter.
In the upcoming season, which the Christian Church has traditionally called Lent (the season leading up to Easter), you’re invited to take intentional time to pause and reset. Each Wednesday morning from 7:00-7:30 am we will gather in the small chapel at 748 Mercy Street to pause, reflect, and breathe. We’re calling it Mid-Week Sabbatical and the hope is that it will help us to pause, to regroup, and to recenter. You’re invited. Wednesdays, March 4-April 1. Put the chaotic energy aside and come breathe.
In Community,
Sam