I have been thinking about swings and fishing and bows and arrows and tidal waves and all the times in life when it feels like we are going backwards.
It’s in the pulling back that potential rises and energy gets stored up ready for the next movement. An arrow is going no where fast unless it is drawn back and held in preparation for release and hitting the target – a bull’s eye. A child on a swing knows what’s coming when someone big and kind pulls the swing back. In order to cast the bait out far into the water, the rod needs to come from behind. Apparently, the gravitational (downward pull) interactions between the sun, moon and earth are one of the reasons for the ocean’s waves. And often, when it’s a big one, there is a drawing back of the waters first, almost as if to feed the wave.
There are times where reversing makes the most sense to advance. Going forwards in a car park may result in you landing in a shop front, manikins collapsed in a heap, maybe even a bra on your head. I don’t know, anything is possible. We need to be mindful of our position and the direction we are facing and so often it is wisdom, even common sense, to reverse first. When we have found ourselves in the wrong in a relationship, the best thing is to apologise and put things right. Carrying on as if nothing has happened may result in a bigger story later on or complete brokenness as we realise that the foundation got cracked and all future building destined to fall.
Think of taking in a breath and then releasing a song or a speech as your breath washes the words on the way out. Try to say something without breath. To exhale and produce sound requires an inhalation first. During exercise we are coached how to breath for greater execution of the move. In any sport that involves a ball being hit or thrown, coming from behind means power.
Perhaps you are struggling with speed, strength, endurance or momentum and all your efforts seem to fall short of the mark. Is it possible to find a way back? I’m not sure how much of this needs to be activated by ourselves and how much is simply being thankful for times when our circumstances dictate that we are going further away from the very goal we have set our sights on.
I wrote last time about pioneer living and how in many ways, my modern day children and I are impacted by their profound ‘forward’ thinking. With their chores done and bellies full, we are attracted to the way they played instruments and sang and worked quietly with their hands as the night fell. A gentle rhythm allowing them to unwind from the pressures of the day; early to bed due to lack of light and sometimes, warmth. Almost forced to rest; something we have to be so intentional about nowadays. They seemed in tune and flowing with the seasons. They worked hard, but their work grounded them and brought them together as a family. Sometimes I think about how much I am getting done because I can get places quickly in my car. Two hundred years ago we would have had a horse and cart. We wouldn’t be nearly as productive if we went back to those ways now, but in all my speed have I lost sight of what is truly important? Because I am capable of getting places fast, am I prone to packing our schedule in such a way that there will be speed wobbles and burn outs if we don’t take care? Besides, have you ever brushed a horse? Every time I do, I come away rested, without the headache I went in there with; content and thankful. Watching chickens pecking about in the garden allows me a similar wave of well-being. Maybe if we spent time caring for the animals that give us transport or produce our food, we wouldn’t have so much need for therapy. Maybe if we worked in the fields with our children, alongside our neighbours, we would discover our burdens shared and halved and we wouldn’t have so much time to be anxious or bored, stressed or addicted to our screens. Just this afternoon I worked in our vegetable patch. My baby and I watered and picked cherry tomatoes and although I was doing a classified chore it all seemed indulgent. It seemed upside down that in working hard I was reaping such delicious rewards. There are values, routines and laws that stood in the old days and they are just as weighty now. They had ways back then that I would call classic and timeless and appropriate for all generations. Always fashionable. Not behind the times at all, but able to pull people back into a place of immense strength.
We are living in a progressive age yet could it be because of a draw back carried out by our ancestors? Did our forefathers plant seeds that they would never reap? Did they get us into position for a sizeable jump? We probably shouldn’t be too proud of ourselves since we have ridden on the backs of the giants who have gone before (see below). Are we, perhaps, reaching for the stars like thriving vines because of the deep roots that went down way back then? Can this flying ahead, if we are indeed advancing, be sustained without taking stock of our position, what our values are and where we are facing? Are we hurtling forwards at such an impressive pace that we are, in actual fact, going backwards in all the ways that count for eternity? I need to ask from time to time: “Who am I again? Where have I come from and where am I going?” I am beginning to realise that to go far, all the way to the end, I may need to keep going back to the beginning.
Sleeping at night, keeping the Sabbath and going on holiday from time to time are holy practices. We may think we don’t have the time for such luxury, but just like a cycle of seasons takes us through one year and into the next, we would do so well to find our rhythm in life; sometimes fast, sometimes slow, sometimes reaching ahead, sometimes lying back. All of nature settles into quiet winter without any panic at all. Naked branches outstretched and unashamed and vigorous roots resting deep. How could the next season be called anything other than Spring as creation leaps into action after a necessary hibernation. Retreating in every normal day is part of a great advance; a story that is not going to take a day, but years of living well. Going backwards can be a very good way to go forwards. Maybe you feel behind, and I hope this is good news for you today. You had better brace yourself in the best kind of way; any minute you might be propelled right into the middle of your wildest dreams.
“Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.” – Jeremiah 6 v 16 & 17
“If I have seen further (than others), it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” possibly 12th century Bernard Chartres and in a 1675 letter by Isaac Newton
Isaiah 60 v 22 – “I am the Lord; in its time I will do this swiftly.”
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