Baxter likes to jump. Cats do that, you know. He jumps on beds, chairs, and the rim of the bathtub when he wants to get a drink from the spigot. I try to limit where Baxter leaps. Counter tops, tables and dressers are off limits. Of course, there is no stopping him from a jump to the window sill on a bright, sunny day when the birds are outside chirping. Sometimes he does try to break my rules. When a morsel is left on the table or a can of tuna stands opened on the counter top, the whiff of sheer culinary delight creates a craving that no rule can control. Then he's up in an instant, and I have to spastically intervene in a second to preserve the few feline-human boundaries I try to uphold.
Cats are built to jump. The spring in their back legs and the flexibility in their spine makes a four foot, vertical move look effortless. Their balance creates a ballet out of a simple change of position. They seem to defy gravity. Their moves to a higher level are poetry in motion. God made them to dance through the air.
God gave us a similar gift. While a few of us with the right training can jump far and/or high on an athletic field, we all are meant to reach for a higher level in life. We are not meant to be earth-bound when it comes to our vision and how we practice it in life. The Kingdom of God is always ahead of us and beyond our current level of goodness and justice. It keeps calling us higher to consider possibilities previously untried, disciplines still unmastered, and a generosity we thought too much for us. The Holy Spirit stretches our spirits to make them more limber and strong. At first, the new thought or practice may seem awkward and even painful. We might resist the effort. But remember, "use it or lose it" applies to more than our physical conditioning. It is the only way to grow in holiness and grace as Jesus did.
God gave us a similar gift. While a few of us with the right training can jump far and/or high on an athletic field, we all are meant to reach for a higher level in life. We are not meant to be earth-bound when it comes to our vision and how we practice it in life. The Kingdom of God is always ahead of us and beyond our current level of goodness and justice. It keeps calling us higher to consider possibilities previously untried, disciplines still unmastered, and a generosity we thought too much for us. The Holy Spirit stretches our spirits to make them more limber and strong. At first, the new thought or practice may seem awkward and even painful. We might resist the effort. But remember, "use it or lose it" applies to more than our physical conditioning. It is the only way to grow in holiness and grace as Jesus did.
God doesn't stand still. God keeps unfolding a future for us. He calls us out of our frightened, selfish and controlling egos to a vision that passes through cooperation to divine communion. He connects us in an ecology of the Holy Spirit that our rugged individualism resists. He removes the blinders we wear to avoid seeing His image in the least, from the unborn and the poor, to the prisoner and the frail elderly. God isn't satisfied with our present lives in this world. He wants more for us than the security and satisfactions we try to create for ourselves. He wants to love us into a life of generosity and service that makes others say, "See how they love one another." He wants us to join in the dance of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and seem to fly by our faith.
So, don't just sit or stand there. Jump!
