Carbless Happiness

 
08/25/2008
 

A Little Bit of Sand Would Help Us All

AUG 25 08

It’s a challenge I give myself every Sunday. And now that I’ve been teaching for almost five years in this same calling, I no longer doubt its importance. I apply the same fighting of assumptions and the same contrarian attitude to my lesson preparation. It’s less about cutting out quotes, and more about waiting for the lesson to reveal itself. It sounds weird, but it works. Two Sunday’s ago, in this same fashion, I came to the following conclusion: living a little bit more like sand would help us all.

If you haven't heard the story about the man that built his house upon the sand, then I can't help you. Sand, I went on to say to the class, has been greatly mis-represented in this one story, leading us all towards a heavy reliance on the physical concept of rock. Of course, not an actual rock, but on the physical characteristics of rock: solid, firm foundation, reliable, confident, immobile, weathered, etc. However, we tend to forget it's somewhat negative characteristics: immobile, hard-headed, stuck, rough, sharp, disdainful, oppressive, egotistical. As is typical, rock has a hard time understanding that it has negative characteristics...because well, it's rock.

Sand, while it can be blown to and fro by the smallest of winds, and it is unattached and selfish in it's bearing attaching itself at a mere whim to other sand around it, only to leave it's fresh companions to other greater/lesser pursuits simply because it can, sand has some fantastic characteristics. Sand can morph. One day it can be a sand castle and the next it can be a hand-print...or a footprint. Sand is easy going, eager to please, open to new ideas and new places. Sand can be pounded without shattering. It can be twisted and turned without damaging it's neighbors. While rough at times, it can with little effort become transparent and beautiful.

Although, Sand presents fear. Rock is something that can be understood, located, stamped, and cataloged. Sand can be elusive (ever tried to find that piece of sand that made it's way up your bathing suit?), gritty, uncomfortable, and it can shift with surprising speed which can be disconcerting. Sand is an unknown that frightens Rock, especially as Rock perceives the Sand's tendency to forcibly weather it, to smooth it's edges, and in essence to change it's shape, without its consent.

So what then?

If you are a bit too much Rock these days, let yourself be moved, let yourself experience new things, let yourself let go of the obsessive control you believe is necessary to remain on your designated path. If you are a bit too much Sand these days, commit to an idea, commit to real changes in your life, test a principle.

And remember, every life needs a sandbox.

 


Comments

Cheryl

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 05:38:12

By the way, I've been thinking about this a ton. The song doesn't say the wise man WAS a rock. WE are not supposed to be the rock. At least in my opinion. If we were rock, we would either make mistakes and not learn from them, or we would be following satan's plan. I guess I'm agreeing with you in a way. We should be shaped by our experiences. But I hope my foundation is rock.

 

Matt

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 07:52:40

Hey Cheryl,
Admittedly, I didn't include the final epiphany from the lesson in my post, which probably affected how you were approaching it. I tend to mix and match at will, especially as I'm introducing a topic. There is a spiritual conclusion I came to in the lesson which brings the discussion closer to full circle.

Conventional wisdom would be to build the house upon the rock. It makes a lot of sense. Christ tweaked the idea by suggesting that the real wise man should build their "house" upon the rock that is Christ and Christ's gospel. In my lesson, the intent was to further (or just be explicit) by suggesting the following: the wise man/woman is the one that will build a house where ever Christ asks, whether or not it is on sand or rock. That was the conclusion at the end of the lesson, to not be afraid of learning from Christ and living principles you learn from him, even if it calls for you to step away from the supposed "firm" foundation of previous teachings or teachings of your elders or teachings from your society.

However, specific to your reply and this particular post, I was explaining to the students that our personal characteristics enable or disable us from following Christ into the sand. This was the case with the Pharisees and Sadduccees. They couldn't follow. His words were hard for them, because he broke with what they considered was the firm foundation of their beliefs and challenged them into the soft sand of interpretation and personal agency/responsibility where he walked. Such sands are treacherous, but integral for real personal growth. I think on the adulterous woman and Christ. Their scriptures, their society, and their beliefs in God led to that moment. They couldn't understand Christ's intent. They felt ashamed, and I'm sure angry. Everything they had ever learned or been taught suggested they were about to do God's will. They built their "houses" on the firm foundation of the written word. Their leaders and scriptures told them that stoning the woman was right. Yet, they were wrong, as individuals, they were wrong.

Time and time again: the good Samaritan or healing on the Sabbath were acts that broke with accepted interpretations of scripture and the word of local and regional leaders. We look at that now and say, "well, Christ was right, and they were hard headed", while failing to see the similarity between how they approached living their religion and how we approach it now.

Anyway - those were the more complete thoughts that led me to make this post about rock and sand. It's a call to personal reckoning, that's all. Most of my lessons end that way. "Where are we at? Why are we there? Are we sure it's right for us? How do we know? Have we asked on our own? Are we trusting someone else? What is our bias?"

As Socrates supposedly said - 'An unexamined life is not worth living.' That quote encapsulates one of the most important truths of my life.



 

Kelley

Sun, 09 Nov 2008 13:14:26

Hey Matt, I loved your post, it was beautiful. The way your words flow and slide around in my head.....Amazing. Your perceptions are deep to say the least, and you are very poetic. I like what you said on Facebook about hypocrisy....people not ever becoming close to those with other beliefs/opinions....I HAVE to do this with my own brother, he is as liberal as the day is long....believes in so many ugly things that break my heart. I am as conservative as they come. I didn't know this about myself until recently, but being with him, hanging out, talking.....It feels so akward and foreign to me and sometimes it would just be easier to say goodbye then struggle to get along and love him anyway, and share why I feel the way I do without taking his rebuttles personally. Like the rock that I am, the sand I choose to own is slowly slipping into my brother's heart. I don't want to change him or his opinions, I just want to continue as his sister, someone he will always reach to for another look at things, as long as it is done with love....I hope some of his rock will slough off soon, so we can build sandcastles together.

 



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