Being Aggressively Present

Someone else in history has probably already coined that phrase, above, but...whatever.

Even as we continue to discover our ridiculously industrial ways of thinking about relationship, vocation, ministry, or whathaveyou - we have still become anxious about not be intentional enough - not reaching out enough - not sacrificing enough - not confronting enough - not praying enough - not participating enough - not volunteering enough - and so on.

I have found, however, that just "showing up", as it were, is almost more than enough. There are plenty of issues to continue to consider, process through, and whatnot...but the more I am showing up at dinners in the community, at garden planting days, at Yoga, on the porch, walking to and from work, etc. - I am, almost without effort, invited right into the suffering and poverty (celebration and wellness too) of a whole variety of people.

Just be available, be present.

That is certainly the essential element for a thriving, sustainable community - yet, somehow, it has become the one true counter-cultural ideal of our generation - one that we have extreme difficulty in living out, as well - simply because we are so mobile, and so not willing to commit to something for very long. Short term missions? It takes a village to raise a child - and it takes eighteen or more years for a child to be raised, properly. Doesn't it just perpetuate the problem, to come and go, as we please, as we choose?


Attention Deficit Disorder.

Maybe, one day we will see that children do not need medication for ADD, but that they just need some motherfuckin' attention - more than an industrial minutes worth.