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We all have those sweet spots where our thinking seems clearer and our imagination runs wild. For me – that place currently is my car, driving back and forth from school. Random thoughts just seem to emerge. This weeks reflection worth dwelling on was how much I struggle with the verse in Ecclesiastes 3 that there is a time for everything under heaven. Oh how we’ve screwed this verse up. It’s been abused to justify war, violence, and oppression. But it has been equally as harmful when it is neglected – when we think that everyone should be at the same place we are along the journey of life or when we rush through seasons of time.
Enter Paul. Paul is writing to those feuding in Corinth. And in trying to simplify and convey a message to a struggling people he makes a grave mistake that has marked our Christian lives throughout history – he forms a dichotomy between the world and the Spirit. Before we go attacking Paul for his choice of rhetorical techniques lets be honest – we’ve all done what Paul id here in the past. In order to short cut an argument or simplify a point, we reduce it to either or. By applying labels and simplifying arguments, we make life a bit more manageable. You are either a republican or a democrat. Pro life or pro choice. Good or bad. Poor or rich. With this simplification comes assumptions about what that label entails. For Paul, worldly is reduced too not good, mediocre and spiritual is living in perfection. But there are a whole slew of possibilities and nuisances in between the polarities.
I’m not a mother and have not spent much time caring for infants – but in my limited knowledge I know that there is a point in time when you give both solid food and milk, because neither satisfies fully. And honestly, I think that is where a lot of us are living today – in the both-and world. This is where our season lies. Our lives cannot be reduced to spiritual or not. And even in all of our vigor for God, there are still times when we stumble.
And here is where I think Paul really messed it up for us today. Paul seems to want everyone to be at the same stage of life – not acknowledging that this may not be their season in particular. He seems to make being worldly an equivalent with failure, but failure is not something to be ashamed of – it can be fruitful. No matter how Spiritual we are there are still going to be seasons when we do not live up to our own expectations or the expectations of others. But not living up to someone’s expectations or cleanly fitting into their dichromatic way of living does not mean that God does not redeem that time.
Let’s pretend for a moment that the Corinthian were not struggling with issues amongst their community or even arguing. What would have been lost and what would have been gained? I think that we, as 21st CE readers may not have been able to find life in their struggles. If it didn’t seem eventful enough to warrant a letter, the wisdom gained from their experience would have been lost to us. They may have gained peace, but at the loss of knowing that our struggles with growing spiritually, as individuals and as a community, are not unique.
At the end of the day, what the Corinthians were arguing about – the thing that lead Paul to label them as worldly is not as important as the fact that it happened. Because I’m sure we can think of some of our own disagreements to substitute in. But we can recognize our journey along the lines of the Corinthian community. We aren’t always going to have it together. And that’s okay. It’s part of life. Because at the end of the day, growth doesn’t come from simple moments of perfection.
Think back on your life. When have you grown the most spirituality? I know for myself, it has been in times of deep valleys and redeemed decisions. When I’m doing well and everything seems to be going fine, I have a tendency to think that I can do things on my own – which is a sure fire way to take God out of the picture and recess spirituality. It may be hard to believe that God can take our dark moments and petty arguments and bring about significant growth, but God can.
And while Paul may have missed the idea of redeeming every moment, his example is key to our understanding of growth. For most seedlings growth comes from falling to the ground or being planted deep under ground until under the right conditions, the seed begins to break open from the inside out. Talk to any gardeners you know – while you may be able to predict when seedlings should begin to grow, that time line is not always accurate. Further, just because one seedling becomes something edible or begins to bloom does not mean that all of the others will follow it’s suit in the same day.
When I was little I remember asking if we could have a garden. For some reason my grandpa and dad gave into my request, but I don’t think any of us realized how much work it would be. We were out in the soil almost every day, laboring, and even then our yield was mediocre at best. But I don’t know if any of our labors can be compared to that of the seeds and bulbs that we planted. We tended to them, but growth came from and through them.
What a metaphor with double meaning for us today. First, it reminds us that each of us is responsible for our own spiritual journey, but we are under the care of God. And that spiritual growth can some times be painful – resulting from being in the darkness before changing from the inside out.
But the metaphor also reminds us that at the end of the day, our spiritual life is moment by moment. God may call for us to tend to someone for a period of time before entrusting their care to someone else. I don’t know about you, but there have been more influences on my spiritual growth then I can even begin to name. There are people who I never realized have influenced me in the way they have. But they are part of my story. For many of us, we think the end result of our spiritual growth is saving people for Christ or seeking justice for those Christ loves in the world. The frustrating thing is that we may never get recognition for what we’ve done or even know how a person is doing after we minister to their spirit, because we were only a part of their story. However, just as God cares for each of our growth, so does God oversee the growth of those we touch.
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