Navigate by the Son

A multiple choice quiz. Please complete the following sentence.

Phototaxis is...

A - the experience you have coming across multiple pictures of taxi cabs.

B - an electro-soul band based out of Israel.

C - the influence of light upon lower organisms.

If you answered C, you are correct. (By the way, if you answered B, apparently you are correct as well. But for our purposes we're going to expand upon answer C.)

Phototaxis is the influence that light has on a lower organism. Cockroaches, (they would populate anyone's "lower organism" list) are negatively phototactic. When the lights turns on they scurry away.

However, many flying insects are positively phototactic. They are drawn to light which has its benefits. Moths, for example, use moonlight to navigate. This light literally orders their world and gives them meaning. Of course, being guided by light has it's drawbacks as well. (Ask any of the bugs inside your light fixtures.) A moth will perceive an artificial light closer than the moon as stronger in one eye than the other. This causes one wing to beat faster than the other. The result is an ever tightening spiral around the wrong, misguiding light.

But, organisms on the low end aren't the only ones dealing with phototaxis. Humans (those are the high end organisms ) are positively phototactic as well. Yes, we're known for our astonishing attraction to the wrong lights! What kind of lights can we be misled by?

The limelight, preying upon our desires to be at the center of attention.

The nightlight, tempting us to be lazy and fearful.

The neon lights that promise exciting distractions from our problems.

The black light we use in scrutinizing and judging people.

What a sight... our industrious, distracted world navigating by the glow of a thousand artificial lights. Into this troubled picture Jesus says, "I am the light of the world."

The Empty Glass and Incomplete World

Presently, I'm looking at an empty drinking glass. Someone, somewhere took the time to heat up just the right amounts of some sand, soda ash and limestone, mixing it all together and then blowing it into this shape. Pretty amazing really. And I'm here, at my table holding it, admiring how flawless it looks. Of course, it's not as good as it could be. It's incomplete, pointing toward something. It needs lemonade. Or iced-coffee. Or other exotic refreshments like, Dr Pepper. It's the drink that gives the glass its meaning. That's why we have the glass.

The world is a pretty amazing place. Someone, somewhere took the time to mix up just the right amount of ingredients to create it. Pretty amazing. I admire it. I'm in awe of it, actually. Of course, it's incomplete, pointing toward something. That something is the day when the knowledge of the Lord will fill it as the waters cover the sea. It's the end that ultimately gives the world its meaning.

The trick is to live from the end backwards. To live presently, in the light of what the world will be. The end actually changes the way we live now. It changes the way we worship. The way we work. The way we relate to one another.

I read Surfing the Edge of Chaos recently. The authors speak of managing the present in light of the future. "Powerful beliefs about the future, akin to a runner's commitment to finishing a marathon, re-contextualize the pain one experiences in pursuing the goal. Ironic isn't it? You can't get there from here but you can get here from there."

N.T. Wright, in Simply Christian says it this way, "The new creation is already begun. The sun has begun to rise. Christians are called to leave, in the tomb of Jesus Christ, all that belongs to the brokenness and incompleteness of the present world. It is time to take up our proper roles in the world... as agents, heralds and stewards of the new day that is dawning. That is what it means to be Christian: to follow Jesus Christ into the new world, God's new world, which he has thrown open before us."

All this thinking has made me thirsty. Where's the lemonade? Time to fill up my glass.

The Unlit Way

Going Higher
How high can you go on a 10,000 foot mountain? (not a trick question) What if you want to go to 12,000 feet? How would you get there? If you are at the peak of one mountain but want to go higher, you only have one option: descend. Descend back down the mountainside, back through the tree line, climbing over boulders and logs, down into the forest to find a path somewhere, anywhere that leads to the higher peak.

Ascending means descending.
Constructing means deconstructing.
Getting to new light means going through an unlit way.

Theossynthesis
Somewhere along Jr High School, I took a Biology class and learned about photosynthesis. Its the term used to describe how plants exchange sunlight for energy. If photosynthesis describes how plants transform then maybe we could coin a new word, theossynthesis, to convey how our inner lives transform. As sunlight changes plants, so Sonlight changes us. But if the Spirit leads us to a higher peak, the only option is to forsake full exposure to the light and descend into the shadows. Trudging, hiking and laboring, for long distances we forge down looking for light, often finding only shadows. Some journey for years before ever ascending again. Yet, its the only way to get to the light. Its the only way to a higher peak.

Picture an obscure fern fighting to grow beneath the canopy of towering pines. Every inch of growth you see on that plant, deep in the forest represents an amazing resilience and tenacity. Photosynthesis is a life and death struggle at the lower elevation. Theossynthesis is as well. In the midst of this shadowy journey, I've found that every minuscule transformation is a fitful struggle. Some days light doesn't come at all. So... I go deeper. Learning and growing when light is available but also learning to adapt when it isn't. Occasionally it feels as though transformation is more about going down into the soil of myself, finding traces of God-light previously deposited, than it does to reach up, beyond myself to find it. Sometimes when the light is inaccessible for long periods of time, in humility all I can do is physically lower my head to whisper a prayer or recite a psalm to myself. Why to myself? Because in the silence of the veiled canyon I'm not even sure God is listening.

The Unlit Way
The longer I hike, the darker and more difficult the unlit way becomes. Yet, too much ground has been covered to turn back. If God only gives direction intermittently then that's what it will be. Yes, I'd like to scale a peak with Him. But, He'd like me to trudge in the shadows a little longer. I'd love to join God in a bold action. But apparently He wants me to join Him in suffering. I don't enjoy this but because I trust God, I'll embrace it.

I'll embrace...
Letting go of everything known to gain what is not yet known.
Leaving one mountain peak in order to scale something higher.
Walking deeper in the darkness to get closer to the light.

Make Music about the Light or What You See with the Light

Great quote from Dylan Petersen at www.relevantmagazine.com “There are those who make music about the Light and then there are those who make music about what they are able to see because of the Light.”

What do you think? Where do you fall? Can you substitute the word, "make music" with other words? What would they be?

Also, check out a new website a friend told me about, www.wreckedfortheordinary.com


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