Reflections on Shuffle-Play
Oscar is eight months old. He puts everything in his mouth. He cries when he is hungry, tired, crabby, or bored. Every day he is soaking up information about the world around him. After smacking the water in the bathtub a few times he learns that it makes a great splash. After pulling on the edge of the basket of toys a few times he learns that it falls over and spills its contents onto the floor where he can easily get to them. Every waking moment is an opportunity to figure out how to move toward his goals. Whether he is focused on pulling himself up to standing or making his way over to the big old cat sleeping in the corner, he eventually figures out a recipe that works and then lets go of methods that don’t work.
Why is it that grown-ups often forget the wisdom that babies apparently are born with? Of course, we continue learning and growing, but too often along the way we get stuck in patterns or ways of living that don’t work and we become either too tired or too complacent or too unfocused to make positive changes. When this happens, we trade in living life in all its fullness for a cheaper version of simply getting by.
Do you want to know Jesus’ recipe for a good start at the richest life possible? Begin with a firm foundation. Be grounded in the Gospel. Don’t get distracted! There will always be countless other ideas and people and shortcuts competing for your attention and devotion, but our greatest wisdom comes in daring to believe that maybe there is a truth so vast and so pure and so good that it is worth building our entire lives on it, and letting it guide everything we say and do.
Right Here, Right Now
by Jesus Jones
A woman on the radio talked about revolution
when it’s already passed her by
Bob Dylan didn’t have this to sing about
you know it feels good to be alive
I was alive and I waited, waited
I was alive and I waited for this
Right here, right now
there is no other place I want to be
Right here, right now
watching the world wake up from history
I saw the decade in, when it seemed
the world could change at the blink of an eye
And if anything
then there’s your sign of the times
I was alive and I waited, waited
I was alive and I waited for this
Right here, right now
I was alive and I waited, waited
I was alive and I waited for this
Right here, right now
there is no other place I want to be
Right here, right now
watching the world wake up from history
Right here, right now
there is no other place I want to be
Right here, right now
watching the world wake up from history
Right here, right now
there is no other place I want to be
Right here, right now
watching the world wake up from history