F.R.O.G - Moving From Fear to Flow
F.R.O.G. Forever Relying On God. That’s the motto of Lesley Fairley’s Frog, Ribbit, whom we meet from time to time at online Worship. Forever relying on God means we need to make choices that take us from fear to flow.
So much of our time and energy can be spent in the place of filling ourselves up with our fears - leaving no room for God… No room for the flow through of God’s Spirit…no room for the Unexpected Love, the Holy Spirit, to guide us through whatever is in front of us.
I like the image of the frog that Eric Elnes uses. One day while he is walking he sees a frog - but as soon as the frog is aware of Eric’s presence it leaps away, rolling, flipping, and twisting with such grace over under around - with incredible agility. Over the millennia the frog has adapted so that 10% of their energy is spent on fear = noting that there is a danger - and then the other 90% of the energy is spent on flow moving with the agility that has been developed for their frog-ness...the frog’s energy is focused on what frogs do best. Isn’t it interesting how a frog is actually safest when the 90% dominant energy it is responding to is flow, not fear? (Gifts of the Dark Wood page 46-47)
We humans are a bit like frogs that way. We are safest when the dominant energy we are responding to is flow, not fear.
When we reverse the ratio and spend 90% of our energy on fear, we endanger ourselves relationally, physically...and spiritually, there is no energy to put toward our capacity for creativity, risk, problem-solving, flow…for which God has made us.
Today we are in a pandemic. We are at the end of our known ways of just about everything. Life seems out of control on one hand and very limited on the other. 10% of our time and energy recognizing that there are legitimate concerns is all we need to spend on fear. But in this unusual time, it would be foolish, indeed dangerous, to spend 90% of our energy in fear rather than in flow; on worry instead of finding creative solutions to move through this time; on trying to save and get back to life as it used to be instead of looking for where God is doing a new thing; on being worried instead of praying listening and responding to the Spirit’s call.
I believe there are 3 things that the church can do today that are do-able and therefore, are in the flow.
1. We can keep the Living Faith alive!
2. We can increase our capacity to notice and respond to the signs of a new season...a turning season in our world (The Great Emergence) and what may come from it.
3. We can prayerfully hold space for what God is calling us to be and do in this time, as individuals and as a congregation (deepening our discernment skills).
These are not quick-fixes, but they are completely do-able.
These do-ables require choices, practices, and learning. They require a robust faith that believes that God will find us wherever we are. They ask of us to be growing in the contemplative way of seeing and being. Forever Relying On God...in do-able ways.
I want to spend my life-energy on what is do-able in these uncertain times. What about you?
Grace, Peace, Courage, and Joy.
Rev. Jan