Saturday, March 17, 2012

Balance This.

Well, hello! It's been a while!

Perhaps the next few thoughts will explain why.

I (fairly) recently had the opportunity to see Children of Uganda during their Tour of Light.
Their dancing was amazing, the natural harmonies of their singing was amazing, their costumes were beautifully-amazing! Everyone was blown away and reverent for these children and their rich culture.
Then... the show stopping moment came when they didn't just put one ceramic pot on their head and dance, but they continued to dance as pot was stacked onto pot and a tall totem poll was amazingly resting on their head as they swayed and stomped to the music. AMAZING.

Ok, so this truly is amazing. It is a talent! But, I began to wonder if the reason we Americans are SO blown away by this is because we speed everywhere. We are constantly on a schedule, on a time crunch. America, the land of Get-Everything-Done-As-Fast-As-You-Can. Produce! Produce! Produce!
We have cars, each of us has a laptop, we have cell phones, we have express lanes. The bigger the better, the faster the better!

I remember my first day at Maria Luisa. I was 13. I couldn't believe I had landed this awesome (not to mention first ever) job.
I got to work. It was explained to me that I could help another employee to check in some sweaters that had arrived. This involved checking each sweater for any imperfections or damages.
MISSION ACCEPTED.
I checked each one of those sweaters so thoroughly, yet so quickly. It was my job (or I thought I'd lose it) to do the most work, as well and as quickly as possible or my eighth grade butt would be kicked to the curb.

Now, back to the pots on your head. I'm convinced that we find this balancing act (literally) so mind blowing because we subconsciously picture ourselves trying to balance pots while we run to the car, search for our keys and speed out of the driveway. Yes. Having a pot on your head at this pace would be quite impossible. Not to say that it's easy, but when you are walking somewhere instead of speed-wobbling, it's potentially learn-able.

I also remember a year (or is it now 2?) ago when I was managing Maria Luisa Gifts and Accessories version. Every day I had a list of around 10 things to do. I always felt like it was impossible to complete the list, because 5 more things would be added every time I completed two.
You may think that because of this, I would have been brain to the list and un-interruptable. Yet, there was one thing that I permitted to be interrupted by and that was interactions with other people. Relationships. This could have been my employer, employees, and definitely was customers.

So, I ask myself now: In this very busy seminary life, when I (yet again) constantly have a list of things to do and can't seem to get rid of the list, what do I allow to interrupt me?
Not much. But that means I can't learn how to balance pots on my head.