six degrees

 

I'm sure you've heard of it...The Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. A parlor game based on the concept that any two people on Earth are about six acquaintance links apart (small world phenomena). The Kevin Bacon version has friends (usually with Bud in hand) challenging each other to find the shortest path between any random actor and K.B. A movie trivia buffs stomping ground.

 

I have an updated version. More of a litmus test than a parlor game. Maybe you've heard of it...or possibly played this twist from the original. No matter what conversation is taking place around me...it always...somehow comes back to what is truly on my mind.

 

Today's worry.

 

You know you're playing when the eyes of those around you glaze over a bit and they tell you without words (way too kind for that) here we go again.

 

Ever seen that look?

 

Unfortunately, it doesn't slow me down. I stay the course and steer the conversation in my new/old direction.

 

Yeah...I'm not getting invited to too many parties these days.

I've mastered this game of mine...six steps is child's play! I can get there in one little baby step. My mind is consumed after all.

I could give myself a pass here and say it is where my mind should be. It is a new worry and therefore is deserving of my every waking moment.

Let's see what Luke has to say about that.

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse or barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? If then you are not able to do so small a thing as that, why do you worry about the rest?"

Hmmm...

One last thought on the subject. "Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

Has your heart, like mine, ever gone astray? Have you found that every conversation is but a few steps from your own worry...concern...glory? From worry to glory...now there's a short path!

This simple litmus test/ parlor game can help you identify your...treasure.

It is at that moment of revelation that one can re-adjust...re-focus...re-calibrate the compass...directing it to True North.

Anxiety is not only a pain which we must ask God to assuage but also a weakness we must ask Him to pardon--for He's told us to take no care for the morrow. --C. S. Lewis

As always...I find my answers in The Book. The Owner's Manual For Life. The Word from Luke can seem condemning...accusatory...cautionary...at first glance. In fact, I have heard sermons that have taken that bend.

To me...those Words are Love.
Freeing me.
Releasing me from this self-made prison.
Knowing God will take care of it and I can leave Him to the work...while I get on with mine.

What are you six degrees from? Let's talk. I will listen. We can pray together and move forward with renewed spirit.

(This is a thank-you and an apology to all those who have endured my game...Six Degrees To Rudy...you know who you are ;)

xo