Behind the Blog
Our days are made up of a string of moments. Most of the moments are fairly mundane and repetitive. Emails, school drop offs, eating, doing dishes, and repeat. Often, if we are attentive, there are sacred moments. A prayer that you forgot about is suddenly answered. The fresh fall air takes your breath away. And, of course, there are the ridiculously absurd moments. A mouse scurries across your floor when you are up late reading a wonderful book. A car won’t start. A cell phone in the toilet.
Recently I have been noticing how often the sacred bleeds into the absurd and back again. On one occasion I was caught up on what Bruce Cockburn would call a “Rumour of Glory” as the congregation was singing a favourite hymn with such passion that I felt the prick of tears in my eyes. Sacred. As we sat down the pant hem of a rather dapper middle-aged church member revealed Homer Simpson socks. That’s right. A three inch Homer was in his ginch with “Woo Hoo!” printed over his head. Awesomely absurd. Also, after a full day of hosting friends in our home I was reflecting on the depth of our conversations and the sweetness of our fellowship. Sacred. While I felt so encouraged by the day I was also completely exhausted and after I changed into my pj’s I threw my dirty laundry out into the hall instead of taking them downstairs to the hamper. Unfortunately my son had, only moments before, placed the container of crickets used to feed his lizards in the same spot. I inhaled in horror as I saw my dress and crickets and a now empty container tumble down the stairs. Let me tell you that catching 42 (give or take) crickets instead of crawling into bed is the height of absurdity.
After thousands of such violent shifts from the sacred to the absurd I began to wonder if I was, perhaps, not intended to see the two in such isolation from each other. Instead of understanding the seemingly sacred moments as being closer to God and the absurd moments as random practical jokes where God has temporarily abandoned me, what if the ridiculous happenings can be opportunities to know God more.
I had been slowly coming to this for awhile but it was actually the Homer Simpson socks that got me all the way there. I was momentarily irritated that my blissful hymn-induced spiritual reverie had to be interrupted by someone’s unfortunate fashion choice. Oh yes, it was intentional; the background shade of the socks was identical to the well-cut dress pants. And then I was flooded with joy. Sense of humour is a gift from the Lord and I became keenly aware that He was revealing Himself to me in every different kind of moment of the day; not just the ones that I defined as sacred.
After the initial horror of the crickets flying towards the staircase my kids were able to watch my husband and I dissolve into laughter as we frantically grabbed the insects before they could escape to the basement to begin their own cricket kingdom. In retrospect, quite possibly, it was the best memory a child could have as they fall asleep. Absurdly sacred. Or sacredly absurd?
So it is with these reflections that I begin my blog. I believe that, as Christians, we need to learn when to pause and think deeply and when to just laugh; to “find the funny” as my Auntie Anne would say. I believe that we get our knickers in a twist about all the wrong things and fail to be passionate about many right things. I desperately want to live in such a way that my kids will be able to say that their mom wasn’t full of it. And by “it”, I think you you know what I mean. I am totally uninterested in a phony faith but I am also aware that in order to follow Christ in an honest way, we need each other. So I invite you to read (only when you have time...and I thank you in advance for your time) and to hopefully be encouraged. To be reminded that you are not alone. And to challenge each other.