No, this isn't a late St. Patrick's Day post nor will it be extolling the virtues of driving a Prius, using cloth shopping bags, or reducing my carbon footprint. It would be more accurate to say I'm shooting for a more organic lifestyle. And for my second set of disclaimers, that doesn't mean I will be buying a pair of Birkenstocks and shopping only at Whole Foods.
I want my life to be more organic and less mechanistic. When I say organic, I mean life is fostered. Contrast this with a mechanistic approach where production is the important metric. Our society is largely a mechanistic society. You see it in economics, politics, sports, even in agriculture (smile!), family life and religion. The key metric by which success is determined is what has been produced. I'm not campaigning for an anticapitalist revolution. But I do believe that our post-industrial revolution mindset has crept into areas where it shouldn't be. Areas that are relationship based and more organic in nature.
Organic living fosters living in others. When my family relationships are healthy, my children, my spouse, and my extended family members grow. I'm not trying to force some type of production - compliance with a certain set of behaviors or specific responses to my actions. Those are mechanistic. If we're living organically, then I am fostering my children's development into healthy adults because of their growing, not because they give me the conditioned response.
Our spiritual lives are definitely meant to be organic. If you read the Bible, all the key imagery of healthy living occurs in an organic mindset. We were created and put in a garden, not a factory. God is the gardener and his people are a vineyard. Jesus taught about producing healthy fruit, not about making the best pots or furniture. When our relationship with him is organically healthy, then we grow. Others grow around us.
Instead, we have tried to make our faith journeys mechanistic. If I perform A, B, and C in my faith journey, I will produce characteristics X, Y, and Z. If our church will implement this procedure, we will see that result.
There's a lot more that needs to be said. I'll have to leave it to this for now. Just a thought.
When is the right time?
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This past week I had coffee with the pastor of the church we're now
attending. I talked for about an hour straight, telling my story. All the
while he prov...
15 years ago
2 comments:
That second to last paragraph really hit me. Too often I approach building a closer relationship with God as I must read the Bible more, I must listen to Christian music more, I must go to Church more often, I must give up this and I must give up that. And I still believe all these things are important but going through the steps doesn't build a close personal relationship with God. It is simple enough to go through the steps and still not truly "feel" anything. It seems my devotions this week and now your latest blog are God's way of really trying to get this through my head. I need to stop just going through the motions and doing what I think I should be doing and instead really focus on what God is telling me through reading the Bible, doing my devotions, etc. One would think having an organic relationship would be easier. Shouldn't something happening naturally be just that - natural? But I guess I've just gotten so in the habit of trying to control everything myself that I let myself get in the way of letting things happen organically.
Going green is a really great idea. The life metaphor brings out the viableness of real truth. And...we live among other creatures both great and small.
However, gardens do not grow wildly by themselves. A great lawn also represents a lot of work by the homeowner. Spiritual disciplines should be seen as a means and not the end.
Weeding is an interesting chore for gardening. We have to recognise the plants from the weeds. It takes time to cultivate that skill.
We plant and water...but God gives the increase. I think God has a green thumb. Don't you?
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