Cabin Fever

In the summer several years ago, when my three children were much younger, I remember a stretch of time when it simply would not stop raining.  I’d come home from work each day and hear my wife lament about how the entire family, including her, would soon be irreversibly stir crazy if the rain didn’t let up soon.  Then one day, I returned home from a day at the office and opened the front door to find an inflatable pool sitting in my living room, filled with pillows, and my children gleefully leaping from the sides, giggling and screaming at the top of their lungs “Geeattics!”  (This was their interpretation of the word “gymnastics’ at the time.)  And off to the side was my brilliant and beautiful wife, smiling contentedly, filled with pride at her ingenious solution to our little family’s bout with cabin fever.  And that pool remained inside for the duration of the summer.

Now here we are 15 years later, and it’s once again a rainy day when someone forgot to tell Mother Nature that the plan was for the family to visit the pool this afternoon.  My children are now grown and, rather than simply fall into the routine boredom that often accompanies a rainy day, took the initiative to alert their friends via the internet to an impromptu tournament of everyone’s favorite game, Guitar Hero, at our house.  Yet another stupendous solution to cure the mundane . . . the routine . . . the usual.

 

As children of God, we mature physically and socially, and as a result, our lives demand new and exciting experiences to push back the doldrums and the monotony life throws our way.  And we eventually take the responsibility upon ourselves to change things up.  Our faith lives are no different.  Once we mature to a certain point and understand fully what our souls stir for, we can’t be expected to be satisfied with the same formulaic worship routine week after week after week.  There comes a time when we demand the unexpected . . . the exciting . . . the element of surprise to take us on a joyous journey to the next level of fellowship with God.  Simply singing a few new songs and plodding through the same predictable standard service week after week, month after month, year after year, becomes inescapably tiresome.  We are social creatures of a mature faith who seek out new experiences with unique ways to communicate with God and to demonstrate our thankfulness and praise.  We look for new ways to release our artistic and creative talents to honor His presence.  We yearn for stronger connections with each other and with the common thread that created us and all of existence.

 

These longings command us to move beyond the comfortable and the easy and the simple, and to move into the realm of the difficult, the challenging, and the unlikely.  Break new ground.  Forge new relationships.  Travel new roads.  Meet new people.  Experience new ideas.  Move beyond your normal boundaries and expose yourself as an imperfect, constantly evolving follower of Jesus Christ.  One who is unsatisfied with this world as it is.  One who is unafraid to be heard above the din of a passive and deaf society.  One who will never stop searching for solutions to fan the flame of more believers and doers in the name of His grace and mercy.  I urge all of us to be daring and driven when it comes to expressing our faith and worshiping the One who sacrificed it all on our sinful behalf.  Work hard to make your individual and corporate worship fresh and passionate.  And, whether the moment is loud and boisterous or quiet and reflective, don’t be satisfied unless you know you’ve expended every ounce of energy to making your worship extravagant and magnificent and filled to overflowing with love and appreciation for all He has done and continues to do for us, his undeserving but grateful flock of thrill-seeking, monotony-battling, pillow-jumping, game-playing, giggling and screaming children.