I have a friend who is a Native American. A part of the Lakota Tribe. When I visit with her she often talks about walking in two cultures: walking with one foot steeped in her Lakota heritage and one foot maneuvering through the Western culture of the 21st century.
She often struggles.
The values and the ways of these two cultures are so different.
I sometimes feel the same way in my Christian walk. In our Christian walk we are taught to live life from a perspective of abundance. Especially when we are trying to love others. This scripture often comes to my mind when trying to love the Christian way: “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap.” Luke 6:38
This way of living also reminds me of my all-time favorite quote about living love into this world. A quote from “On Religion” by John Caputo:
“Religion is for lovers, for men and women of passion, for real people with a passion for something other than taking profits, people who believe in something, who hope like mad in something, who love something with a love that surpasses understanding.”
It all sounds so wonderful, doesn’t it!
But then you go to camp and you realize that at the age of 62, if you gave unconditionally to every child there. If you played every game with the heart of an 8 year old. If you sang every song with the passion of a CIT. That if you truly lived completely out of abundance, the next morning you wouldn’t be able to walk! And Sunday morning when you have you preach, you wouldn’t be able to talk!
One learns from experience, you see, that when trying to survive camp counseling at 62, one must learn to pace yourself. Have fun, for sure! Sing some songs at the top of your lungs, but when they are are all screaming “same song, same verse, a little bit louder and a whole lot worse” for the tenth time, you maybe could save your voice just a bit. Pat yourself on the back and let your little voice of reason win. “There will always be another verse of this one, Brook. Let your insatiable FOMO go this round!”
The problem isn’t actually camp, it’s the week after camp! I just don’t recover as quickly as I used to!
And so, I have learned to calculate and pace and even…dare I say it…measure out my love, my time, my joy, and even my presence!
Ugh! I hate that! Because every time I do that, I find my heart falling into “scarcity mode” and leaving the land I love, the land that my soul longs for: the land of sacred abundance.
So this, it seems, is my current battle. Called to lov and live abundantly…without measure…in a world that’s always... I mean always...counting, weighing, measuring every last drop.
Your friend and pastor, trying not to let the measuring cup win, Brook