Going Thin

Decreasing breadth 

increases depth.

In his book, Sacred Year, 

Michael Yankoski comments that 

a gallon of water could cover a five mile area 

if stretched about a molecule thin. 

But that same gallon, if focused into a straw 

about the size of a human hair, 

would reach the center of the world, 

four thousand miles beneath our feet.

My life has often felt like a multitude of droplets 

stretching across that five mile expanse. 

All out busy with more responsibilities than hours,

I often felt like I was running to cover

huge stretches of land, giving everything

I had to all that I did, but, in reality, 

not as much as I wanted to any of it.

I didn't know how to change any of it,

until it all changed.

When everything changes around us, 

it forces us to change as well.

It has taken a while to adjust to the shift;

it is hard to just stop moving at that kind of pace.

But the word that I keep hearing more clearly

is the word "depth."

Our culture is obsessed with thinness,

not just the physical kind, 

but the conditioned reality that comes

when we stretch ourselves so thin and 

focus on so many things

that we lose the ability to focus.

We "care thinly" when spread thinly.

My resolution has been to spend

more time alone, quiet, listening. 

I haven't been doing much writing lately

because life has still been busy. 

And maybe not so much busy as thin. 

I cannot write out of a thin perspective. 

I need deep. And deep needs quiet. 

But when I look at facebook or instagram and

read great quotes about being all you can be 

and setting goals and living your passion, 

and living stronger, happier, and better,

I can feel like I am doing nothing. 

And if I am not careful, 

I can go thin in a heartbeat.

Our ultimate goal is fullness.

Jesus talked about wells, not wide open spaces.

So, I want to do less, stretch less, juggle less.

That takes something akin to ADD medication.

It takes prayer and quiet 

and being with Jesus.

And a willingness to walk away from

the single molecule five mile expanse

and towards the four thousand mile deep life.

Increasing depth begins by

decreasing breadth.

It's time to focus.