Wednesday, April 17, 2013

The Lazarus Experiment - Day Fifteen

Space. The final frontier.

I'm not talking about a trek to the stars. I'm talking about the space in your clock; in your calendar; in your day.

It's the final frontier because everybody seems unfamiliar with the territory and afraid to go there. Those who do go there are labeled as lazy or crazy.

Space is all the holes we think we must fill or die trying. The twenty minutes in our day that is not scheduled. The one evening this month where you're Daytimer is blank. The rare minute that may slip by without a detailed agenda for its budget.

You are overbooked. Overstressed. Over-planned. Over-scheduled. Overdone.

And overwhelmed.

Lazarus would have tossed his watch and his calendar in the Dead Sea.

"But," you say, "what about redeeming the time, making most of every opportunity? Doesn't Jesus demand that we stay busy for the Kingdom?"

It never ceases to floor me that Jesus needed space. Sometimes he just dropped everything and took off. He even dropped his closest friends and went alone, because friends can take up too much space.

We have been taught that idle time is the devil's playground. What if he claimed it because he knew that we needed the space to connect with God?

In our busy-every-moment-or-we-will-fail-like-a-toothless-bum-in-the-gutter-of-life world, space makes us feel guilty, like we're not doing anything.

THAT IS THE POINT.

We even go to great measures to plan our free time, so that it's not free anymore -- it's planned! Booked! Spent! Expensive! Not Free!

When is the last time you just sat and looked out a window. No book. No computer. No friend. No pet. No music. No TV. No Bible.

Space.

Lazarus, to his administrative assistant: "Cancel my appointments. For the rest of the day I'm doing nothing. Not one thing."

Glory!

Do the same. Boldly go where no man (or woman) has gone before.

Suggested Scripture For Today: Psalm 131

Suggested Ideas:

  • Carve out 15 minutes a day for a week and do nothing during them.
  • Take off your wrist watch for a week.
  • Go camping alone, or take a long walk without your iPod.
  • Sit in a coffee shop where you can see the door and pray specifically for every person who walks in.

Question of the Day: What would Lazarus' attitude be regarding his work? Would he have quit is job? Would he have made changes in his hours? Would he have determined to work harder and longer? How would he see his occupation differently?

Don't be discouraged, friend. We're getting into the hard part of The Experiment. It would be easy to give up. Don't. The best rewards are yet to come. Hang in there and fight it out to the end. You can make it.
Ron



Okay so my days, being what they are with so many people in them, tend to be kind of hectic.  I have decided that in order to think about this properly, not only will I take my watch off and purposefully do nothing for 15 minutes but that I be also watching for another 15 mins and reflect and pray for all those people in my path.  I tend to be a lot of different places and see a lot of different people from all walks of life.  One thing I've noticed is the levels of gratitude and how they differ from "class to class".  In Williamsburg, we tend to only have two classes... the wealthy and poor. We have pretty much lost the middle class here.  What was once considered a lovely middle class neighborhood has begun to show it's age and where middle class family once lived, we are finding more and more rental properties with folks living paycheck to paycheck struggling to make it monthly.  We are seeing more and more very expensive homes being built and we have shoved out the middle class from or sweet town.  Odd for the birthplace of our nation really but true.

So, today and for a week, I will pray for each person I see during those 15 mins and I will do so every day for a week and hopefully, this weekly journey will become a habit!  That's such a great habit!   I know I could do much worse!

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