Sir Isaac Newton meets God

Nothing in this life is static.  I'm not talking about the whole earth spinning on it's access thing or the earth moving around the sun.  I'm not even talking about how many Anoka County ambulances are set into motion when one truck takes a call in Blaine. I'm talking more about a twist on Sir Isaac Newton's third law of physics.  It's a simple equation of F1= -F2.  My sixth grader learned this in science.  I've personally learned this when I tried to ride a skateboard.  Once.  Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.  But here's the twist.  Newton never researched how this applies to our personal life, interactions and relationships. 

Think about your garden.  A lot of effort goes into it every spring.  The ground is tilled and the soil is hopefully dark and filled with moisture and nutrients.  The seeds are chosen and planted with much thought and care.  And then the wait.  Doing nothing. Watching.  And then, after doing nothing, there might be a little peek of green that pokes through the surface.  Is it a sprout or a weed?  Oh, it's a weed.  Just leave it.  Do nothing.  Until, not so suddenly, after weeks of doing nothing (which is an action by the way), the entire garden is covered with weeds (the reaction) and my harvest will certainly be affected.

Now think about your marriage.  In the beginning, a lot of action is taken to nurture your relationship.  We all know this.  Leaving little notes, wearing that favorite dress when you'd really prefer yoga pants, spending time together just talking (even when there is housework to be done).  Nurturing your partner and your union is hard work.  I'm not proud of the fact that over the years I sometimes chose to do nothing.  Just leave it.  Do nothing.  And then not so suddenly, after weeks (months) of doing nothing, my marriage was suffering.  We found ourselves trying to dig out of the weeds that had begun to overgrow the harvest. 

I consider then, how Newton's Law applies to my spiritual relationships as well.  You see, there is no standing still.  We are all either nurturing our faith or slowly allowing the weeds to smother us.  If we are not moving closer to God we are moving away from Him. 



Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” ~Matthew 28:19–20.

And so, yesterday was like a scene out of biblical history.  Just as the disciple John would baptize crowds of Christ followers, in 2014 we sat on a hill overlooking a beautiful body of water as witness to this profound event.  Our family was baptized together.  Biblically, it is an act of obedience.     Spiritually, it is my action.  It is my forward motion.  It is my understanding that moving further from God is not an option and thus I must be moving closer.  F1= -F2

 

One Lord, one faith, one baptism ~Ephesians 4:5