Alien Drums

Driving in the fog is dangerous. Living in a fog can be dangerous, too. But is it all that bad?

Yesterday, the fog was pretty heavy when I started for work. It was not terrible fog, but it was not drive-as-fast-as-normal fog either.

I took my time. I focused. No radio. No distractions. Concentrating in the moment. There’s something a bit intense about driving in the fog. You don’t get sleepy. You’re alert.

So what about living in a fog? I’m not talking about a mental fog; I’m talking about moving forward without being able to see clearly what is ahead of you. It’s a pretty good way to live. You take your time. You focus. You live in the moment.

We seem to be a culture caught up in planning, and the ultimate expression of planning the “road” ahead is this corporate nonsense about developing mission and vision statements and all such consultant-contrived devices. I say corporate nonsense because that’s where it had its genesis, but it has taken over churches and religious institutions and even individual lives.

In churches and institutions, my experience has shown that more energy is put into “strategic” statements than in actually getting anything done. We’ve swallowed the planning Kool-aid; and when you swallow the Kool-aid, you end up buying the farm. (Check Jonestown reference to Kool-aid somewhere.)

Astrophysicist Alar Toomre may have a helpful word for us. He tries to make headway in his research by focusing on the little issues, not the big ones.

Denise Shekerjian, in her book Uncommon Genius, paraphrases Toomre’s approach this way: “What is important is to focus your interests on one or two discrete, localized, particularized questions pulled out from a universe of one’s interests. Work on the small matters utterly, he explains, and the large necessities can be left to take care of themselves and of those who trusted accordingly.” (p. 10)

That sounds like good old fashion work. Maybe we need a little more work and a little less strategic planning in our individual lives, our church lives and our institutional lives. Because, it sure seems to me, that we’re not getting much done.

Let’s drive in the fog a little and live in the moment.