DOUBLE EXPOSURE

October. Summer vacations are behind us and we’re back at work and school.

Many of us are glad to be moving on, but did fall have to start quite this abruptly? Even the weather changed abruptly. From one day to the next, the morning temperature dropped almost 25 degrees! I love cold weather, but, it would be nice to be eased into it just a little bit slower.
It might be nice to be eased back into work and school a little bit slower too, but there’s little use in fighting the reality of homework, earlier school starts, and job deadlines. Society says it’s time to buckle down and produce!

And maybe that’s appropriate. But I don’t think we should allow God to be squeezed out of our schedules. I may not have the time to sit down and read a book by my favorite spiritual author, because I need to repurpose that time. But there are still slots of time through my day when my mind isn’t fully utilized. For example, when I’m driving, when I’m waiting in line at WaWa, when I’m walking from my car to my office. Even many of those transient times are often consumed preparing for what’s next, but if I can include and engage God, in my daily processing, even for a moment, I am reminded of others God cares about that need prayer.

Sometimes instead of being just ANOTHER frazzled person waiting for my hoagie at WaWa, maybe I can find a way to minister to some of the OTHER frazzled persons, even if only through a simple gesture of kindness or a genuine smile that cares about the face of Jesus hidden behind the mask of that other frazzled person. The mental scene reminds me of an old “double exposure” movie I have from my childhood. Somehow, we accidentally used the same film twice in the movie camera. The result was a movie of people sitting on a dock looking at a lake, but the lake had a parade marching through it! As if the world is running around on speed while we observe from our place sitting on the dock.

At the end of the day, I hope I can look back and see that the Holy Spirit was able to slow me down so that even though the world is in HIGH GEAR, in my mind at least I am occasionally sitting on the dock, listening for God’s still small voice while I watch the parade. Maybe I’ll even be encouraged to discover a brother or sister sitting on the dock with me!

Happy Hiking and God Bless,
 
- allen