Late November and early December in Northern Virginia are characterized by people cleaning up the fallen leaves littering their yard.
I went for a walk last week. Walking through one neighborhood, I went down a dead-end road with three cul-de-sacs branching off of it. As soon as I turned the corner onto this road, I could see a guy walking around outside with one of those backpack leaf blowers. Although we have lots of lawn care companies in this neck of the woods, this guy wasn’t working for one of those companies. He appeared to be a homeowner that had his own backpack leaf blower.
Now, if you’ve got one of those, that’s cool. This guy, though, seemed to be lovin’ this thing! I’m guessing he got some kind of Black Friday bargain or something. The leaves in his yard weren’t enough of a challenge for him, I guess, because when I first saw him, he was out in the middle of the street blowing leaves toward the pile he had started. In fact, he couldn’t even hear the car sneaking up behind him, just waiting for him to turn around and get out of the way. Once he finally did, he waved the car through, like “Oh yeah, c’mon through, busy guy here, big stuff happening!”
It was also a breezy day. Leaves that he blew into a pile were soon replaced with new ones. I walked through all three cul-de-sacs, and when I passed him on my way out, he was still out in the street, blowing what was probably about seven leaves around. If one of his neighbors had come out and asked him to just kinda clear off their front walk a little bit, he probably would have grimaced while taking a deep breath, made a show of being willing to do it this one time, and then proceeded to clear off not only the front walk, but also the driveway and front yard, and since there was no clear boundary between that front yard and the front yard of the next house over, he’d just go ahead and do that front yard too.
When was the last time you were that excited about something? How about in your Christian walk? For those of you that are Christ followers, remember back when you first became a believer? Maybe there was some other spiritual high when you felt like you were on fire for God. Has that excitement faded, or are you still just as enthused now as you were then?
A lot of times people make the unfortunate mistake of judging something’s importance by the emotions it evokes. It’s unfortunate because for things like your faith, there are going to be numerous ups and downs. Sometimes there are going to be a lot more downs than ups. Through it all, you can’t rely on your feelings to tell you the value of Christ in your life. There will be hard times! Spend time in the Bible to learn, to grow in Christ. Spend time in prayer, deepening and strengthening your relationship with Him. When you hit low points, a stronger faith will help you persevere.
I don’t know the leaf blower guy at all, but I’m guessing that in a year or two, when the excitement and newness has worn off, he’s not going to be out blowing leaves around quite as much as he is these days (although I could see him trying to use the leaf blower instead of a snow shovel this winter). If your relationship with Christ has grown stale, maybe it’s time to try to jumpstart it again. What initially attracted you to faith in Christ, and what made you excited about it? What would it take to revive that excitement?
It’s been almost 20 months since the world first went into lockdown mode. Although we’ve had several iterations of “the new normal,” fellowship with other believers is something that, for many, has not fully returned to what it once was. If you’re someone who’s felt like their faith has stagnated or faltered, I’d challenge you to do something that increases the amount of time you spend with Godly peers. Maybe you need your own Barnabas. I realize there may be some who are still unable to return to pre-COVID practices, but can you find ways to raise your level of interaction? For others, maybe you haven’t physically returned to church. Think it’s time yet? If you’re back in person but think you’d benefit from additional fellowship, how about joining a small group or a Bible study? If there aren’t any you’d want to join, how about starting one?
The “shiny newness” of stuff can wear off quicker than you might want. Think of your relationship with God as a fire. If you don’t feed it, it’s not going to stay lit. If you feed it only small stuff, it might flare up brightly, but it will burn out quickly. If you give it stuff that’s too big or too dense, it’s just too much for the flame to catch. You need to find the right mixture of materials. What are you using your “active” mind for (what are you reading, what podcasts or radio shows are you listening to)? On the flip side, what are you doing with your “passive” mind (what are you soaking up when you’re watching a screen)? I’m not saying you need to be watching sermons and listening to hymns in all your free time, but I do think you should be doing something to actively grow in your relationship with Christ. It will help keep you excited about being a follower of Christ, and that excitement and enthusiasm can win souls for God’s kingdom.
I don’t often drop hints about my upcoming posts, but tune in this coming Thursday to see what happens when you combine two adventure sports. (Spoiler alert: you’ll see that sometimes it’s better to just focus on doing one at a time.)