Spinning plates is one of my favorite metaphors
for my life. What could be a better image for a working mom than trying to keep
several different plates spinning at the tops of poles simultaneously?
Western plate spinning usually consists of a
comedy act with one performer and an assistant keeping a bunch of plates or
bowls spinning at the tops of a row of poles.
Chinese plate spinning is more complex. It usually
includes acrobatics or contortion and involves several performers holding
several sticks at the same time, each one with a plate at the end, spinning
away.
The Guinness World Record for
spinning multiple plates is held by David Spathaky, assisted by Debbie Woolley,
who spun 108 plates simultaneously in Bangkok, Thailand, in 1996.
Sometimes I feel like I am spinning 108 projects
and responsibilities all at one time. How about you? There’s cooking meals and
doing laundry, getting my car serviced, helping kids with their homework,
planning a date with my husband, paying bills, buying shoes for the kids,
taking my mom to an appointment; then all the things that go into being the
pastor of The Village: writing a sermon, making phone calls, visits, leading a
study group, preparing to lead a study group, getting ready for meetings, going
to meetings, going over financial reports, preparing the weekly email and the
Sunday program; meeting with Travis to choose the music for Sunday; going to
see someone in the hospital; and so on. Is that 108 plates yet? I know some of
you have lives even busier than mine.
Do you ever feel overwhelmed by your life? I know
you do because you tell me you do. You post on Facebook that you are
overwhelmed. You scream that you need a vacation, but then you come home from a
busy vacation so tired that you tell me you need a vacation to recover from
your vacation.
And don’t get me started about retired people.
They are the busiest of all. Pat goes competitive skiing and goes to visit her
grandchild all the time. Karen is leading dialogue groups about racism all over
the city. I think she is busier now than she was before she retired.
Jesus knew about working hard. He knew about
spinning plates. Once Jesus got started with his ministry, there were people
pressing in on him all the time, asking him to heal their ailments and to fix
their brokenness.
In today’s scripture, we find Jesus busy from dawn
‘till dark healing the sick and those afflicted by evil. The scripture says, he
“cured their sick bodies and tormented spirits.” I think that would be
exhausting work.
And the next day they came to get him. They said,
“Everybody’s looking for you.” And Jesus was ready to go. He said, “Let’s
go to the rest of the villages so I can preach there also. This is why I’ve
come.” Jesus never seemed to tire. He had an endless reserve of energy when it
came to caring for the people.
Ah! But that is not true. He did not
have an endless reserve. Jesus may have been the Son of God, but he was also
fully human. He had to fill his tank, just like we do. Right in there between
the healing of one day and the rushing off to the villages to preach the next
day we find some crucial information about Jesus and what kept him going.
“While
it was still night, way before dawn, he got up and went out to a secluded spot
and prayed.”
In the in-between times, Jesus took
time to be alone, to rest and pray. Time
alone with God was essential to Jesus. We see this pattern over and over
and over again in scripture. Jesus takes a break from the crowds. He takes a
break from the spinning plates to pray. The reason he does this is because he
knows he needs balance in his life. Balance comes from taking time, both
working for God and resting in God.
Jesus loved to work for God. He loved
to heal; he loved to preach and teach. But you can’t work all the time. He had
to take some time to refuel. This is the time when he went away alone, and
prayed. He rested in God and remembered God’s great love for him. He remembered
that he did not have to DO anything in order to receive God’s love. He could
just BE and God would love him completely. In prayer, Jesus would pour out his
heart – his frustrations, his fear, and worries. And God would bring Jesus
comfort and encouragement. Jesus would bring to God his empty cup and God would
fill it up with living water.
We need balance, too. This is what God
does for us, too. When we step away from the 108 spinning plates, when we set
aside the “to do” lists and the expectations we put on ourselves, and when we
rest in God, God fills us up.
We
each need to take time to rest in God. This means we take daily time to listen
to God. I suggest creating a holy space for yourself, a particular room or
chair where you will sit and rest. Perhaps you light a candle to remind
yourself that God is the light. Maybe you simply drink a cup of tea to allow
yourself to slow down. Or you look out the window at nature and remember that
God created this beautiful world as a gift for you.
Then take a few deep breaths, and
breathe in the goodness of God. Breathe in peace and breathe out the chaos of
your life. Then you might read some scripture. I like to read a couple of
Psalms. The Psalms are prayers so if I cannot find words to pray myself I can
pray the Psalms. Or read a section from one of the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke
or John. These books tell us the life of Jesus. They give us the core teaching
of what it means to be a follower of Jesus. Read a few verses and reflect on
what the verses say to you today. Perhaps write in a journal your reflection on
those verses.
Then be still and listen to God. Ask
God, what do you want to say to me today? And just be still and listen.
You may hear a message and you may not,
but in the listening we are opening ourselves to God, we are making space for
God in our lives. We recognize that we are not alone and we don’t have to
manage our lives on our own. We have a higher power who is with us.
Ask God for what you need, and pray for
others and for the world. Close by giving thanks for the blessings in your
life.
These simple acts go a long way to
helping us find balance in our lives.
I can’t promise that if you pray every
day your life will never get out of balance. My life gets out of balance.
Things happen. Yesterday morning I got a call that my mom had fallen. She broke
her hip. Today she is having surgery while I am here preaching.
My mother was so calm about the whole
thing. She literally, physically lost her balance and fell and broke her hip.
But she did not lose her spiritual balance.
My
mom prays every day. She sits in her rocking chair with her cup of tea, and her
Large Print Upper Room Devotional Guide. She reads a scripture, and a reflection and a
prayer and then she prays for this church and for our family and for any number
of people she knows who are in need. That is how she stays in balance. So when
something comes along, like a broken hip, my mom is not fazed. She just said,
“I’m getting old and some of my parts are wearing out.” She goes on, accepting
what happens, and knowing she is in God’s care.
Prayer won’t keep us from never getting
out of balance. It will happen. But I can tell you this with confidence. When
you pray, it is easier to regain your balance.
We
all get overwhelmed. We all find ourselves spinning plates that seem out of
control. But when we pray, God helps us find our center, and it is just easier
to regain our balance. When things get out of control, we take a deep breath
and remember that we belong to God, and God will see us through. The spinning
plates won’t win. God always wins.
So if you do not pray every day, I
invite you to join the way of Jesus and Jesus’ followers who pray. Daily prayer
is a cure for the things that keep us out of balance. And if you pray every
day, I encourage you to keep praying. As you know, when life brings you
challenges, prayer will truly help you regain your balance.
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