Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves;”
This morning’s reflection focuses on our desire to do, do, do, for God. We strive to build our own Tower of Babel. Maybe it’s for the right reasons – we want to be closer to God, or want to do what we think God wants of us. But maybe it’s not for the right reason, as for the builders of the Tower of Babel. They did it to make a name for themselves, to be known and credited with this good thing.
I am certainly guilty of being a doer. Do. Do. Do. I’ll happily claim my Martha-ness. And thinking about these builders, I probably also have multiple purposes. Sometimes I do what I believe God wants. Maybe sometimes I’m right. I’m sure however, frequently I’m wrong. I do what I think God wants, without perhaps checking. And sometimes I check while I’m on my way to by the tower building supplies, thinking about the grocery list, driving down the freeway. Perhaps God can’t (or shouldn’t) break In to my soliloquy, so God watches my one sided conversation without ever being able to get a word in edgewise.
When I aim to do something for God, perhaps I need to slow down, be quiet, and wait patiently for God’s direction. And if it doesn’t come at a time for my convenience, perhaps I wait patiently. Not my strength, when I could have been to the hardware store and back by now. But wait I must.
When I do something for what I hope or want to be God’s purpose, I know I need to create space and time to actually let God join the conversation.
But what about those things that I do for my benefit, where God’s not really invited into the conversation at all. Things that I do “to make a name for myself”, like the tower builders? These are harder for me to corral, because I haven’t even given a hat-tip to God, but rather decided that what I want is in fact what should occur. Now. Under my direction. With my efforts. Frequently by myself.
How do I get God back in that arena too? I’m thankful for my day-job, where I work with people of faith, and we frequently begin our day with prayer, and meetings with prayer. And much of my work is helping to assure those meetings and worship celebrations occur seamlessly. Hours or weeks before the meeting, I’m busy pulling parts together, making arrangements, becoming a Zoom expert. That is where I need to remember that what I’m doing – that mundane, behind the scenes work, is also God-work. God should not wait to be invited at the actual event, when 90% of the effort has already occurred. It’s in my day-to-day work that I need to invite and remember whose I am, and for whom I’m doing the work.
At home, it’s tougher. We’re at a place in my family where there is a good amount of conflict. Everyone loves everyone, but my loved one is increasingly symptomatic and argumentative, which creates conflict between my husband and me. Our house is not steeped in God language or God cues. We don’t pray as a family, worship together, even have common God beliefs. I’m a lone ranger, and mostly that’s ok. And it’s definitely harder to remember for whom I’m parenting, or supporting, or feeding, or loving, when the others in the family are testy, and we don’t share a common belief in God.
Gratefully, the bonds created in baptism are indissoluble, so I’m not worried about whether God is present, I would just have to work harder to remember that in my secular home.
Starting my morning with Scripture reading helps. I think I also need to create more visual and habit cues at home, to remember. I have a Mezuzah in a beautiful case given to me by a friend from her mom’s estate. Her mom was a holocaust survivor. I do not want to coopt another’s faith, and I also believe that it would be lovely to “write the words of God on the gates and doorposts of your house” (Deut 6:9). Maybe I can put that up heading into my kitchen, where I spend most of my awake time. Or maybe I put up something else for the same purpose.
Then there’s the idea of habit stacking. Start with a small habit, and once it’s set, add another small habit on top. Brush, then floss. Walk, then stretch. Open my computer to write, light my special candle. Maybe I create a habit stack that includes an invitation or invocation for God to be in my space. When I open the fridge, I invite God to be in the room as I prepare food and feed my family.
Finally, the Lord’s Prayer has some powerful words that could right my intentions. Thy will be done.
If I throw in a few extra recitations during the day, and really pay attention to that bit, maybe I’ll remember.
This morning, I’m thinking about how I can really live the “Thy will be done” part, throughout my day, at work and at home. Today I’ll start with more Lord’s Prayers, and pulling out my Mezuzah.
If you want to read the same book as me, and work your way through the Bible in one year, here’s a link to the Ebook
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