I know - I pick the weirdest topics to blog about. Sorry - I don't try to be weird - it just comes natural - I can't help it - it's not my fault.
We just got back from a short backpack trip and I was thinking about what it is I love about it. I had this moment on the side of a mountain this morning as we were hiking out. It was somewhat of an epiphany (whatever that means). The sun was shining in brilliant Colorado fashion. There was a light breeze. Aspen and Ponderosa pine were all around me, and this majestic mountain peak in front of me as I looked off across the valley. It all seemed so vivid.
And it struck me that what I like about backpacking is that it removes all the stuff that separates me from real life. You can't carry many luxuries out there into the wilderness. A stocking cap at night is a luxury (I forgot mine on this particular trip, so I stole Laura's - She has hair to insulate her head, and I seemed to be deprived that way). Typically in backpacking there just isn't much to separate you from the real world. When it gets cold, you feel it. When it rains, you get wet. When it's hot, you sweat. There isn't any heater or air conditioner to turn on. There isn't any climate control.
Think about how much of our lives are lived insulated from what is real. Many of us work in air conditioned offices, with dehumidifiers going. Our windows are tinted to cut down glare and then we still wear sunglasses. All cars have heaters and many have A/C (everybody's it seems, except mine). Even some motorcycles have a heating system. Our exercise bikes have racks for magazines in front of them, and many of us exercise in a carpeted gyms with a stair machine and multiple TV screens. Our cars have DVD players, our pews have pads, our offering plates have padded bottoms, our streets have piped in music, and our lives are lived safely insulated from anything that might make us the slightest bit uncomfortable. Watch any kid these days - especially at the mall, and see how long they can go without doing SOMETHING with their phone. It just becomes more insulation.
I think we get pretty insulated from God as well. We have our little spiritual chores, and if we do them, each in it's own little place, we stay pretty safe and insulated from God. Our 'walk' becomes a checklist - devotions, prayer, read Our Daily Bread, read a chapter from the Bible, share our faith - there, am I done yet? Heaven forbid that I would have to drop all my spiritual pretense and my safe, predictable routine and have to live today without my props. Spiritual disciplines become insulation so I don't have to deal with God in the middle of anything real in my life.
Almost two years ago I stopped being spiritually disciplined. I decided that religion and ritual were keeping me from really experiencing Papa. Religious activity was keeping me safely insulated from really having to know Him. So I stopped it all. Needless to say, the trail has been quite different since then. Sometimes it is really uncomfortable. Sometimes I have no clue where I am going. Sometimes He is so vivid it takes my breath away. But almost always it is honest and real and uninsulated.
We just got back from a short backpack trip and I was thinking about what it is I love about it. I had this moment on the side of a mountain this morning as we were hiking out. It was somewhat of an epiphany (whatever that means). The sun was shining in brilliant Colorado fashion. There was a light breeze. Aspen and Ponderosa pine were all around me, and this majestic mountain peak in front of me as I looked off across the valley. It all seemed so vivid.
And it struck me that what I like about backpacking is that it removes all the stuff that separates me from real life. You can't carry many luxuries out there into the wilderness. A stocking cap at night is a luxury (I forgot mine on this particular trip, so I stole Laura's - She has hair to insulate her head, and I seemed to be deprived that way). Typically in backpacking there just isn't much to separate you from the real world. When it gets cold, you feel it. When it rains, you get wet. When it's hot, you sweat. There isn't any heater or air conditioner to turn on. There isn't any climate control.
Think about how much of our lives are lived insulated from what is real. Many of us work in air conditioned offices, with dehumidifiers going. Our windows are tinted to cut down glare and then we still wear sunglasses. All cars have heaters and many have A/C (everybody's it seems, except mine). Even some motorcycles have a heating system. Our exercise bikes have racks for magazines in front of them, and many of us exercise in a carpeted gyms with a stair machine and multiple TV screens. Our cars have DVD players, our pews have pads, our offering plates have padded bottoms, our streets have piped in music, and our lives are lived safely insulated from anything that might make us the slightest bit uncomfortable. Watch any kid these days - especially at the mall, and see how long they can go without doing SOMETHING with their phone. It just becomes more insulation.
I think we get pretty insulated from God as well. We have our little spiritual chores, and if we do them, each in it's own little place, we stay pretty safe and insulated from God. Our 'walk' becomes a checklist - devotions, prayer, read Our Daily Bread, read a chapter from the Bible, share our faith - there, am I done yet? Heaven forbid that I would have to drop all my spiritual pretense and my safe, predictable routine and have to live today without my props. Spiritual disciplines become insulation so I don't have to deal with God in the middle of anything real in my life.
Almost two years ago I stopped being spiritually disciplined. I decided that religion and ritual were keeping me from really experiencing Papa. Religious activity was keeping me safely insulated from really having to know Him. So I stopped it all. Needless to say, the trail has been quite different since then. Sometimes it is really uncomfortable. Sometimes I have no clue where I am going. Sometimes He is so vivid it takes my breath away. But almost always it is honest and real and uninsulated.
No comments:
Post a Comment