you can't do everything

A few years back, the Avett Brothers wrote a gem of song called 'Ill With Want' that features this truth-spitting lyric (starting at 2:18 until 2:58):

"Temporary is my time
Ain't nothin' on this world that's mine
Except the will I found to carry on
Free is not your right to choose
It's answering what's asked of you
To give the love you find until it's gone" (I added the underlining)

I appreciate this description of what it means to be 'free'. Because freedom as some no-strings-attached, tabula rasa reality isn't how life works. Freedom inherently contains both limits and possibilities. 

That's a grace for us.

It turns out that most of life's choices include both limits and possibilities, in tandem.

To choose ... to move to a new city for college, grad school, or a job means accepting the limits of not living in other, equally-as-awesome places. Those are real limits. But it also allows some freedoms. It allows for freedom to put down some roots in one particular place. We could only pursue such freedoms after accepting the real limits of being in one place at one time.

To choose ... to invest in a relationship with one person (or one group of friends) means accepting some limits to the time and energy required to also befriend other people. That can be hard. And yet, it makes possible the freedom of getting to know deeply one person (or one community). That sort of possibility only works while accepting some limits.

To choose ...  take a nap means accepting that (for the duration of that nap) you're limited in doing anything else. It's impossible -- while napping -- to finish homework, to chat with friends, brush your teeth, or play that video game. But there's a freedom in rest, because we're created to need rest. The only way to that freedom of rest is through accepting the limits a quality nap imposes.

From time to time, we'll face good choices of how to use our time and resources. Sometimes the choices are easy. Sometimes, the choices are harder.

But we gotta choose. It's impossible to truly say 'yes' to some stuff without saying 'no' to other stuff.

Choices. Limits. Possibilities. Freedoms.

Optional Prayer: Lord, help me choose wisely with whatever I might choose. Help me choose how to respond gracefully to unfair criticism, how to devote my time, how to care for others, how to love in harder times, how to love in easier times. At night, help me choose to put the phone down, and go to sleep. Help me choose to share my anxieties with you. Help me choose to respond to others respectfully when I want to respond harshly. Help me choose to see the dignity in how others are made in your image, especially those with whom I disagree. Thank you for not making it impossible to do everything -- I don't admit it much, but I actually don't like too many options. It's way too overwhelming.

WWJD - nap

"Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ." 1 Corinthians 11:1

It's never not intimidated me when the Bible says I/we gotta imitate Christ. For most of my life, I've understood this as meaning 'be like Jesus' to = 'don't sin, always be the best.'

While not sinning is part of imitating Jesus, it's not all of it. The imitation of Christ is too often equated with attaining for 'perfection.' And our sense of 'perfection' is warped, frankly. Icarus can never make it.

To be blunt: Jesus did not create daily to-do lists, complete with immaculate, color-coded penmanship. He never got into what his Enneagram type could be. He did not wake up at 4AM every day to fit in 90 minutes of cardio and strength training. He probably didn't floss after every meal. He did not show up 10 minutes early to every lesson at synagogue, just to ensure he wasn't late. When he gave a housewarming gift, he may have re-used a gift bag.

He probably let his food ... touch the other food on his plate.

In fact, Jesus:

-took naps on the regular (Mark 4:38)

-enthusiastically ran away when a crowd became too much (Mark 6:31-32)

-got hungry, and then became annoyed when he couldn't find food (Matthew 21:18-19)

-was not at everything other people expected him to attend (John 11:6, John 11:21)

-cried when he was sad (John 11:35)

-showed frustration at religious systems -- and didn't even try to hide it (John 2:13-17)

-every so often resisted his family's pressure on how he should live his life (Mark 3:21,31-35)

It's almost as though Jesus -- in telling his disciples and followers to imitate -- is saying we should copy *all* of his ways in how we live day by day. In the famous words of the penguin skipper from Madagascar when they made it to the beach: "Now THIS is more like it." 

So while we're trying to imitate Jesus and keep from sinning, and in trying to love our neighbors as ourselves, let's not forget about how Jesus didn't always go along with his family's wishes--we may need to imitate that at some point. Or when Jesus cried. Or how Jesus showed some frustration. Or how Jesus took those naps.