Gina was behind the wheel.
She’s my Georgia peach girlfriend who can talk louder than any human ever to live and believes cooking fried chicken is an act of worship.
We were late for a wedding and lost on the intricate and construction laden campus of The University of Tulsa.
We’d been everywhere seeking the chapel and after 15 minutes of going into a circular nowhere, we reached yet another dead-end.
I was telling her to go right; the other passengers were shouting left. She couldn’t make up her mind so she just went straight.
Normally I’d go with the flow. But there wasn’t a road. We were driving through the frat house lawns littered with men and their emptying beer cans. Our car was full of three women in evening attire and one legally blind male (the other passenger) screaming for his life.
This may not have been the wisest decision. In fact, it wasn’t really a decision at all. Instead of turning left or right, she did neither. She didn't make a choice but acted on it.
Let’s call this Nothingness in Motion.
Nothingness in Motion is marking the letter “c” on every multiple-choice question because we really don’t know the answer.
Nothingness in Motion is using phrases like “isn’t that nice,” “that sounds interesting,” and “very informative,” when your boss starts talking bass fishing.
Nothingness in Motion is political correctness from your hair color to your shoe choice.
Nothingness in Motion is always playing it safe by never playing at all.
Nothingness in Motion is always letting what's hot, what's popular, what's in, being what's you.
Nothingness in Motion is living a life of mediocrity because we’re too scared, too uncertain, or too dead to live.
Harsh maybe, but true. I know this place because I’m there. I'm staring at the puke green of the walls as we speak.
I’m passionate about politics and theology, chap stick and sociology, psychology and reflexology and even love, when we speak in rhetorical musings. But speak of it personally, speak of it about me, and…well…um…no comment.
How can I talk more passionately about a ruling by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals than I can about my own heart?
Here’s what John Eldridge and Brent Curtis had to say about this in The Sacred Romance:
“In the end, it doesn’t matter how well we have performed or what we have accomplished – a life without heart is not worth living. For out of this wellspring of our soul flows all true caring and all meaningful work, all real worship and all sacrifice. Our faith, hope, and love issue from this fount, as well. Because it is in our heart that we first hear the voice of God and it is in the heart that we come to know him and learn to live in his love.”
This avoidance of what ignites us, what pushes us to our limits, this is the evil that is Nothingness in Motion. What it’s really saying is:
In life, my heart is missing in action, but I'm not going looking for it.
2 comments:
You should most definitely publish this book. Even if it is a print-on-demand book from cafe.press.com.
It is too interesting for just the blogging world alone. . .and the little snoops at the NSA.
I like what you said about the Eldridge book. I read it last month and felt spurned to re-evaluate my Life in general.
Yep, publish, publish, publish, publish, publish.
Should I say it again. . .publish, publish, publish.
Many readers will thank you.
YAY! A new Singularity post that includes a John Eldredge quote... it doesn't get better than that. As for "nothingness in motion," I see a lot of that in my life... and whenever I attempt to start living boldly from my heart, I always get sidetracked or hurt and come back to NIM. So perhaps this should be a wake-up call for me!
Also, I agree w/Jason's comment, as I've said before.
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