YOUR Way

When it absolutely, positively has to be done YOUR way, asking anyone else to help is a charade. Participation in community, whether it is as a couple or in a much larger group (like a church or civic group), requires that you allow others to interpret and apply their own particular experience. You can ASK others to help, but in community and in a volunteer organization you cannot define the parameters of their participation. You can either ask, “Will you help me?” or “Will you do this my way?” but not both. If it has to be done your way, a relationship with others will not be developed by involving them in the process.

© 2012 Todd Jenkins

Easter Vigil

Watching, waiting, hurting, praying;

no understanding, certainty; hope instead.

Wondering why we should be staying.

Will he be raised from the dead?

Time is indiscernible motion;

feet and arms heavy as lead.

Feels like we have cried an ocean.

Will he be raised from the dead?

Burying heads beneath the covers,

sheet of anguish, quilt of dread.

Hurt even more than that of lovers.

Will he be raised from the dead?

© 2012 Todd Jenkins

Hereafter

Whatever else the afterlife is (and wherever and however), I believe it is a place and state of being where all of the fear, all of the failure, all of the pettiness, all of the ignorance, all of the ways we damaged ourselves, hurt others, and hindered the coming of the kingdom are finally made aware to us in crystalline fashion. In that revelation, we are given an opportunity to see and desire God’s purpose. We are free to finally let go of the anxiety and tension of not knowing who we are and what we’re supposed to do and not do, and fully relax, immersing ourselves into God’s deep and rich love. 

© 2012 Todd Jenkins

Taken

Whenever something precious is taken,

but especially life itself,

we find ourselves inhaling sharply,

yet all the breath in the world

is not able to inflate our spirits

against this violation of theft.

God the only one

to and against whom

charges can be filed;

flying in the face of polite society,

file we must.

“Here we are, your children,

at your mercy for even daily bread!

How is it then, that we

are supposed to survive this loss?

Take this our impassioned ire,

drive it into your holy heart,

let its fireworks there erupt.

We can do nothing less

and nothing more ourselves,

until you hope us once again!”

© 2012 Todd Jenkins

Transform or Transfer?

How did we move so far away from our potential for “transformation” and become such an addicted “transfer nation”? From the corporate ladder to ever-increasing speeds and methods of transportation, we are forever climbing and racing toward something and somewhere, and seldom aware of where we are in any given moment. It is as if we believe that success, and maybe even life itself, are defined and measured by kinetic energy. 

Because we accept the second law of thermodynamics, which posits that energy can neither be created nor destroyed, perhaps we have convinced ourselves that we have improved on Descartes. It’s not, “Cogito ergo sum” – “I think, therefore, I am.” but “Agitatio ergo sum.” – “I move, therefore I am.” The key to our existence, in which we need to rest and reside, is “Deus cresco ergo sum.” – “God is, therefore I am.” Don’t base your PhD thesis on my Latin; just live your life in each transforming moment of the Master’s presence! 

© 2012 Todd Jenkins

NAP

What the world is most in need of is a NAP – a Non-Anxious Presence. Those who are comfortable with who they are and who they’re not, regardless of whom they’re with; those who live by their own expectations and allow others to do the same; those who live as witnesses and not judges – these are the people whose non-anxious presence is a gift that gently ripples grace across the pond of the universe. I’m working on my NAP. The world is wanting and waiting. Go ahead, get your NAP on.

© 2012 Todd Jenkins

Beyond Success

What word would we, in the Church, choose to supplant the thoroughly-co-opted (by economy and industry) word "success"? Will it be a word that pairs easily with "measure"? If it does, what will be the "units" that become significant for us? We probably don’t want to declare it immeasurable, but we may choose to redefine the scale and/or units. What units are on the scales that matter in your life? Pounds (weight), currency (money), degrees (education)? 

I’d say most of the units on the scales that matter are “string units”: strings on the musical instruments of our lives that give us the opportunity to play (and live) beautiful music with others in both our dissonance and harmony; strings on the web of life that connect us; multi-colored threads that weave us into the tapestry of God’s amazing gift; strings woven together to form the ropes in which we tie knots and toss to one another when we are too close to the edge, so that we can be pulled back into the safety of grace and community.

“Everything that can be counted does not necessarily count; everything that counts cannot necessarily be counted.” Albert Einstein

© 2012 Todd Jenkins