Grasping for the Wind

"One generation passes away, and another generation comes; but the earth abides forever." Ecclesiastes 1:4

Around the world, the news is spreading about the passing of two pop culture icons yesterday. One was a woman who set the standard of beauty for a decade, the other was a man who changed the face of popular music forever. Yes, the names of Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson are on the tips of everyone's tongues. People will be discussing the impact they had on the lives of others, their dreams, their achievements, their demons...all of it will be rehashed until it seems that their images will be forever burned on the public consciousness. And yet...

What is their real impact in the light of eternity? Two people who seemed to have gained all that the world had to offer in the ways of fame and fortune, and yet in the coming generations they will be viewed with the same detached emotions with which we now see other icons like Abraham Lincoln, Julius Caesar, and Napoleon. They might even one day fall into the anonymity of thousands of others who had also gained fame and fortune and now are wiped clean from the earth's memory.

When we heard of Michael Jackson's death yesterday, my sister remarked how weird it was for a man so famous to suddenly be no more. That is one of the mysteries of death, the great equalizer, the one thing that no one can escape no matter how wealthy, talented, or beautiful they are. Ecclesiastes has this to say on the achievements of man: "I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and indeed, all is vanity and grasping for the wind." (Ecclesiastes 1:14 NKJV). It takes times like these to remind us exactly how much of a vapor we really are, and to shift our focus back on to the things that are eternal.

None of this is to say that we shouldn't appreciate our life on earth. It is a great gift and a great opportunity. But we must never lose sight of the fact that is the life to come that matters most, and that the praise and honor found on earth is as elusive and empty as the wind itself.

"I communed with my heart, saying, 'Look, I have attained greatness, and have gained more wisdom than all who were before me in Jerusalem. My heart has understood great wisdom and knowledge.' And I set my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is grasping for the wind." Ecclesiastes 1:16-17

Great Post: Who's Afraid of Flannery O'Connor

In Volume 18, Issue 2 of the Credenda Agenda, Douglas Jones questions why today's Christians are so afraid of Flannery O'Connor. Though in my opinion she is a writer whose works all Christians should read as much as they read those of Lewis and Chesterton, most Christians have never even heard of her and those who have have a great aversion to her. Why? Jones believes it lies in the darkness of grace:

All her stories focus on grace, grace, grace. That's what they're about. Every one of them. Real people wrestling with bodily grace.

And that's what disturbs many readers. They don't want their grace black. It feels like an alien faith to them, and they resist it. O'Connor herself heard this complaint. In her essay "The Catholic Novelist in the Protestant South," she argued against that pietism typical of Christian readers: "The reader wants his grace warm and binding, not dark and disruptive."

It's a great article. I especially like how Jones contrasts Christians' aversion to O'Connor with their love for "Christian" horror like Frank Peretti. Read the whole issue here.

Life in the Doldrums

Day after day, day after day,

We stuck, nor breath nor motion;

As idle as a painted ship

Upon a painted ocean.

-from The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by S. T. Coleridge

Ask any sailor who relies on wind and they will tell you that there is nothing worse than being caught in the Doldrums, that region along the equator that is notorious for deadly calms that can trap a ship for weeks at a time. The endless monotony, the breathless air, the overwhelming boredom can lead to a madness that no storm could ever create.

For the past few months, that is exactly how my life (both physical and spiritual) has felt. You might have guessed that from my general lack of posting. I have been listless and uninspired and I seem to be getting nowhere fast. Not that my life is bad; in fact, it's actually pretty good compared to most. It's just that I feel like I am stalling in the middle of a vast nothingness, wanting to move forward but unable to. Things that I once had a passion for have become routine and boring. Church, family, and life itself seem to have lost their flavor and I find myself simply going through the motions rather than really growing.

So the questions that I now face are how long until God blows me into the open sea again? And, more importantly, how do I survive until that day comes?