I asked a veteran light showman how long it takes to remove old broken strands in order to reset the annual light show. He quickly assured me that they don't take down wrapped, broken lights-- that would waste a lot of time. If some lights don't function, then they focus their energy on putting up new strands in the space between the broken ones.
He further explained that if you leave Christmas lights wrapped around a tree, they will tighten to the tree, and expand as the tree grows. In this process, the strand of lights tightens around the trunk, until eventually, it snaps and falls to the ground, doing the hard work itself.
Obviously this only makes sense for large light shows. It looks a little tacky to leave up your personal Christmas lights past January, but it struck me how this metaphor works for us too. We waste a lot of energy looking for new resolutions or new rhythms each year, when we really should let our bad ones fall away by replacing them with new ones.
We should sift through what is healthy versus what needs to be left alone to fall away and die. We don't have to cut all our broken wires and start from scratch each year. If we did, we may cut the wrong wires in the process. Plus, pulling all the broken wires down would overwhelm even the most energetic of people. Thus, most people wouldn't ever start. On the other hand, if we just added healthy rhythms to replace the broken ones, then we would feel a fresh bright beginning.
"A wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands the foolish one tears it down." (Proverbs 14:1) I am often the one who cuts the wrong wires around our home. In these inescapable spaces of late, my mood, thoughts, habits, or words affect the brightness or dullness of our traveling tribe. While I don't believe I am the "head" of our tribe, I think I serve as the neck. As such my rhythms and responses shape the trajectory of our day. This may seem a bit overblown, but when you don't have the natural breaks and dividers that standard rhythms provide , you can see clearly how everyone's sins surface.
"For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you." (Romans 12:3) Jesus didn't come into the world to help the perfectly wired people--the ones who have it all set up year after year, and don't leave room for error. He can't help the grand light shows that never admit they have broken lights. He came for us broken wires. He wants to be our doctor and rewire all the ways we function without Him.
I often think I know best. I am the neck after all. I like turning everyone in my direction, but this needs rewiring. My routines and rhythms, the ways I've always done things based on my standards or even those of society don't fit into what Jesus teaches. He made all the teachers, elders, and spiritual leaders, the heads and necks alike look at life through a completely different lense. If God is tightening your rhythms right now, if you feel a tension and struggle, it may be due to the brokenness of your rhythm. Instead of wasting energy trying to keep it under your control, or trying. change every tiny bulb and force it to work, let it die. Let it fall to the ground, and you'll see how light and easy God's rhythms are in your life this year.
Here's to rewiring and relearning a new way of living...
~Rewiring Carefully & Carelessly