Noah
was undoubtedly bored.
Ever since humans took to the waves, ennui has been aboard. Like war, life at sea can be “interminable boredom punctuated by moments of terror.” In the psychological doldrums, sailors carved scrimshaw, made up sea shanties, sang them over and over, played cards, drank beer and rum.
Noah’s voyage was worse for boredom. He wasn’t going anywhere. There was no sail, no rudder. He wasn’t fishing or chasing whales or seeking new worlds. He was just floating in a creaking holding tank. The whole point was waiting—how long he hadn’t a clue (Gen. 6,7 &8).
Most of what we call “spiritual life” doesn’t go anywhere, doesn’t accomplish anything. We don’t seem to be changing anything or anybody, least of all ourselves. What do we have to show for twenty minutes of silence? Nothing we could point to or even describe. In other words, we know what it’s like on that ark.
After we’re finished with spirituality as performance art, it gets pretty simple. It’s learning how to sit with contradiction and paradox and not get angry or go crazy. It’s just breathing—talk about boring. It’s learning how to be a little more patient, how to close our lips and open our ears. It’s letting things go, letting things be. Waiting just one more day for the seed to sprout, for the wayward to come home.
This is how we are slowly, gradually changed. But it will usually feel like we’re in that holding tank where “nothing is happening.”
Stay on the ark. God is taking you somewhere. Trust it.
COMPANIONS ON THE WAY
Introduction
Stories of Turning
Week One
Stories of Wild Places
Week Two
Stories of Dogged Faith
Week Three
Stories of Mercy & Forgiveness
Week Four
Stories of Simplicity & Joy
Week Five
Stories of Prayer & Surrender
Week Six
Stories of Transforming Love
Leave a Reply