Of Tides and Pebbles
We live in the tension of pebbles and the everlasting tides that scatter them.
I am grateful for the gentle rhythms of my life. I love the dance of marriage, family, friends, Middle Tennessee, good books, and the pulsating possibility of touching eternity through the portal of any moment or place.
But presidential election seasons bring discord to the dance. That’s when I find myself indulging conversations and acts that are negative, hopeless, and angry. I seem to lose the plumbline and fall into vertigo.
Why is that?
At best, politics is the way civilizations turn conflict into compromise. That’s how variances—small issues, honest differences, even ancient hostilities—get zippered into some kind of cultural consensus and forward movement. But at its worst, politics becomes religion; a snarling, irrational, polarizing, and unforgiving battle between the perceived “forces of good and evil.”
When we move into the final weeks of a Presidential campaign, polarization rises to flood stage. We all learn to see other ideas, agendas, movements, and leaders as grotesque visages of wickedness or stupidity. That’s when conversations stop, friendships ebb, and we all dive into our bunkers.
Age to Age
Life on earth cycles. The “current situation” always breaks down (regardless of who wins elections). The old and sclerotic order is always here and passing away. The “all things new” future is always here and arriving. We live in the grip of both.
When the prophet Daniel’s “current situation” in Jerusalem fell apart and he ended up in Babylonian captivity, the promise just kept rolling in like a wave. History is full of those epics of upheaval...like Joseph in Egypt, Jesus on earth, the Reformation, World War Two, Mandela and de Klerk, Civil Rights, the US space program, etc.
But to live now according to the promise that may not yet appear is to live radically. Such a life—what I call “timberline life”—sees the things we fear and the things we hope as mere sand pebbles rolled back and forth by the everlasting tides.
Timberline Life—a Counterculture
The enigma of civilization is that dominant cultures tend to bring death to spirit, soul, and body. They do so by infusing their ecosystems with obsessions—wealth, sex, addictions, consumerism, technology, and other traps. So, to live above all that places us on a collision path with the Zeitgeist, the “spirit of the age.” The good life is inevitably a counterculture.
What does that mean?
Here's the truth that hides in plain sight: Timberline people live normally, sanely.
Countercultural living is simple; just defy the abnormal by living above distractions, assaults, and temptations. Keep your eyes on the ball, love family and friends, care for neighbors and community, humble yourself, give. Listen to your opponents. In life’s harsh spaces, speak gentle words. Love, engage, and pray for those around you.
Yes, of course, timberline people participate in political processes. They vote, volunteer, donate, and do so joyfully. But they also keep politics in perspective. Don’t sacrifice family, friendships, community, or joy on the altar of politics. Timberline living does not give politics any authority over relationships or covenants.
And timberline people remember the comparative power of pebbles and tides.
Well said in such a political upheaval.