Can't Teach a Lion to Fly

I do not write on this blog often.  Problem is every week I write up five columns for the Brattleboro Reformer newspaper, then I write up five “daily thoughts” which are sent out to the folks on our mailing list.  Those daily thoughts are usually meant to be follow-ups to the Sunday message.  That is a lot of writing… and the creative juices run a little low.

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As we look to the story of Jesus on the mountaintop – when he became glistening white and the Light engulfed him, I ponder some issues.  I offer that one of the most profound challenges of life is that we do not tap into the potential we have been given.  We gravitate to easy and comfort. Michael Easter’s book, “The Comfort Crisis” is an engaging read.

Most of us admire the Olympic athletes.  We watch the Super Bowl.  We wish we had done that Thanksgiving Day jog or walk.  We marvel at the oldsters who are still hitting the walking paths or biking.    And we come up with iron clad, 100% air tight, reasonable justifications for doing absolutely zilch which might compare.  Air tight. 100% reasonable.  By the way, moving is one thing all the medical folks agree will add vitality and years to our lives, this gift we have been given. 

And this matter does not pertain just to movement either.  We certainly appreciate the folks doing volunteer work – at the hospital, the homes for the elderly, the schools.  And we have 100%, airtight, extraordinarily reasonable justifications not to join them.

I came across an expression for those who constantly resist…. Cannot teach a lion to fly.

Well, be a bird.

Moses was on a mountain when he had this moment with God.  Jesus was on a mountain as well.  And just how did they get there?

They climbed.  No climb?  Well, then we stand or sit there. Way it is.  Comfortable and easy.  I suggest the life of faith calls us to embrace the wrong side of comfort. And, paradoxically, that is when we unintentionally experience a measure of peace and joy.  On the mountaintops.  Climb.