This is a post by Dr. Randy Stinnett. Randy is a former worship leader and was an active participant at Last Call before moving to Miami, FL for his post-doctoral fellowship in clinical psychology last August.
Since transplanting myself to the east coast in the summer of 2009, I have done more flying this past year and a half combined than I have throughout my entire life previously. By this point, I can pretty much recite the pre-flight ‘what to do if the plane explodes or lands in a ditch’ spiel. Your seat becomes a flotation device; and if you’re too chicken to help others should the plane encounter a crisis, please don’t sit by an emergency exit. However, one particular pre-flight instruction has always stood out to me and I think it has pertinent meaning for those of us who desire to live a Christ-following lifestyle of service, and in particular for those of us who gravitate towards the helping-professions, whether in ministry or in the world as a vocation. And here is that poignant imperative:
Should the oxygen masks fall from the ceiling, secure your own mask first and then put the mask on your child.
Though I’m not a parent yet, I can only guess that a parent’s impulse would be to make sure the child’s mask is on and that the child is breathing before securing her or his own mask. How we so often go out charging full steam ahead, brimming with helpfulness and good intentions. We are ambitious, energetic, and frankly we love the reward of giving of ourselves for the good of others, the service, and activity. We come to a point of feeling spent or burned out from all the ‘service,’ and may wake up to the sensation of feeling inwardly depleted and hungry. The Proverbs:
“Keep watch over your heart with all diligence, for out of it flows the issues of life” (4:23).
It is only through this attention to the heart that we will cultivate a finer-tuned awareness of our own soul and of the still, small voice of the One who calls us to this dedicated, deeper life of excitement and living in genuine relationship with the world. I wrap this up with a quotation by the 12th century German monk and mystic, Meister Eckhart, whose writings have certainly fed my soul:
“To be sure, this requires effort and love, a careful cultivation of the spiritual life, and a watchful, honest, active oversight of all one’s mental attitudes towards things and people. It is not to be learned by world-flight, running away from things, turning solitary and going apart from the world. Rather, one must learn an inner solitude, where or with whomsoever he may be. He must learn to penetrate things and find God there.”
Happy Flying!
