Testing the Teeter Totter Theory

A previous post discussed how I came up with this teeter totter theory. I'm no scientist, but I know theories beg to be tested to decide if the theory can be practiced.

As a short recap, I'm operating under the assumption that God does not create and require without also equipping. I'm also thinking that He provides the platform for us to stand on when He calls us to something. With that in mind, I'm going to look at a few common issues I face as I try to live a life of faith.

I will start out theoretically. In governmental politics as well as religious politics we often talk about the left and the right. The terms right and left are often preceded by adjectives such as extreme, far or moderate. People are often encouraged to take a stand and pick a side.

What does that do to the teeter totter theory?  If the fulcrum is the opinions of the issue, we can get a variety of outcomes based upon the number of people who jump on board on the side of their position. The more people you can get to join you, the better chance you have of tilting things in your favor.

Did anyone besides me ever play that game on the playground? Someone was always trying to leave someone else hanging up there in the air. In order to accomplish that, you'd solicite others to help you hold your end down. Ever been the one left hanging in the air? The only way down was to join the others at the other end, or jump off...or,convince the others to come to your end. That works too and the game goes on until the bell rings.

What happens, however, if the fulcrum is not personal opinions but God's position?

Opinions are about as fickle as weather forecasts in an unstable atmosphere. However, Hebrews 13:8 says, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever."

I'm thinking that I'd rather stand

with Christ as my fulcrum.

 

Tetter Totter Theory

I've been thinking about teeter totters. They used to be on every playground when I was growing up. I'm sure we had some at Flat Rock Elementary. We even had a maypole. If you are not familiar with those, it was simply a pole with handle bars on the end of chain links. We would race out to get one of the coveted handles, then run around the pole, holding on for dear life, and become a human tetherball. If it sounds dangerous, it's because it was!

However, I not only survived, but even enjoyed the playground and have been spending some time thinking about teeter totters. Finding a teeter totter to photograph for this blog entry was hard. Almost as hard as trying to find the words to express the purpose of the entry.

I've been thinking about teeter totters recently because I have been yearning for some balance and this piece of playground equipment seems to best illustrate what I am trying to describe.

I want to live a life that is balanced and I think God desires that for me as well. When I look at His creation, I see that balance is required. My flowers need water. Too much water and they rot; too little water and they wilt. Our bodies need food. Too much and we are obese; too little and we are malnourished.  Unfortunately, we live in a world that doesn't make balancing easy.

Could it be that although balance is required for physical health, our soul desires the extreme. Could it even be that God created us to crave the extreme? Consider this paradox: God created us to yearn for extremes yet requires us to live in balance. Does that sound downright cruel to anyone?

Yet, I know He is not cruel; I know He is kind. And knowing this has made me ponder this paradox. And that is why I have been contemplating teeter totters and here is what I've been thinking...

I know that my God does not create and require without also equipping.

And this is where the teeter totter comes into the picture. God is three-in-one: Father, Son, and Spirit. And although there are many faults with this analogy and my majestic, wonderful, powerful, loving LORD cannot be summed up in a mere piece of playground equipment, it has helped my feeble mind to picture the trinity functioning the same way as a teeter totter.

 One function with three distinct features

that equip me to satisfy my craving for extremes

while maintaining a healthy balance.

Let's look at the teeter tooter: a plank with seats on opposite ends with a middle support that serves as the fulcrum. If the weight on both ends is equal, the plank will be balanced.

I desire balance.

Which left me with this question,

"Where do I fit into this picture?"

I believe God invites me to stand on His balance.

He is my fulcrum and my extremes.

Anyway, that's my theory.

Balancing Act

 

Watching my granddaughter learn to walk has reminded me of how important balance is if we want to move forward.

From very early in her new life, her legs have been yearning and churning to move!  Try to change her diaper if you don't believe me.  If you're not careful, those flailing feet can do some damage!!

She wants to move.  As she grows and matures, she has moved from reclined kicking, to creeping and crawling, to the much anticipated wobbly walking.

I love to watch how focused she is as she goes from a stationary sit to a straddled stand.  Do you know what I'm talking about?  She plants her feet so that she has a wide base.  Then she slowly reaches out with her arms as she strives for steadiness.  Then slowly and deliberately she engages her leg muscles as she begins to stand upright.

TA DA!

But she is not satisfied with merely standing still.  She wants to move!  She has places to go and things to explore. 

It occurred to me that whether we are talking about physically walking or spiritually walking, we all want/should/need to move forward.  Physically speaking, when someone cannot walk, it is recognized as a handicap and special provisions are made.  Spiritually speaking, as long as we are alive God expects us to grow, mature, and move forward.  If we are not walking and moving forward in our spiritual maturity, what is blocking our growth?

To help us with this one, let's take this spiritual/physical thing a step further.

In the church culture, we talk about being reborn.  Therefore, at the beginning of our walk as a born-again believer, we are mere infants.  We need someone to bottlefeed us, so to speak. 

Unfortunately, this is where some believers are satisfied to stop and, even more unfortunate, some churches are satisfied with leaving their newest additions.

Think about that--parents who are willing to bring new infants into existence, but don't want to help the newbies grow up.  "I just want more babies!" 

Why would anyone want to do that?! 

Well, let's admit it.  Babies are cute.  Plus, those who have helped babies grow into adults know that babies are demanding, but sometimes changing a messy diaper is an easier and less painful parenting task than watching a maturing child make messy mistakes.

Helping an offspring mature requires time, energy, and financial resources.  It takes more energy to practise walking with a toddler or to chase after a careening bicycle than it does to corral the kid in a crib.  An education is expensive.  And let's face it walking, pedaling, and learning take a lot of time for both the student and the teacher.

The same can be said of spiritual babies. 

In order to properly care for spiritual babies, there need to be spiritual parents to help them grow during the different levels of maturity.  We don't leave the birthing room expecting our physical offspring to walk, and we shouldn't expect our spiritual babes to come out of the baptismal ready to hit the road running. 

Yet helping the new believer mature may require more time, energy, and financial resources than some want to invest.

Continuing with my analogy, the natural progression is for physical children to progress from fully dependant to fully independant individuals over the course of time.  Personally, I don't want my children to be infants forever.  Although I was happy to provide feeding and diaper changing services to them as newborns, I am glad I don't have to provide those same services for my adult children.

Which brings me back to the issue of balance. 

Just as a society needs procreation to continue, a church needs both infants and adults to be healthy and growing.  Only mature oldies?  The church ceases to exist as its numbers naturally decrease as they become deceased.  Only aged immatures?  Many monster messes with no one to clean them up!

If your church invests in growth, get involved.  And don't just learn for learning's sake.  Use what you learn, for goodness sake!  Grow up and then invest in the youngsters around you.  And then help them grow so that they can  help others grow.  (Don't even get me started on the joys of being a grandparent!!!)

If your church doesn't offer opportunities to grow...maybe it's time to make a change.

Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.  Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.    Ephesians 4:14-15