Sustainability?

Sustainability. It is all the rage to be concerned about. You might even say that to not be concerned about sustainability would be to irresponsible and selfish. So here is my attempt to be responsible in living a sustainable life.

Walking through the San Jose airport the other day in an oh-so-responsible way I wanted to properly dispose of the trash leftover after breakfast. When I found the place of proper disposal there were words written above each of 3 openings: "Bottles/Cans" "Paper" "Trash to the Landfill". These words sent me on  sent me a guilt trip. I paused and reflected, "is this waste recyclable?" Nope. So to the landfill it went. -Sigh- this doesn't seem sustainable to me. Aren't we eventually going to run out of space in out landfills?

Just below the sufrace of my consciousness lays a deep concern of sustainability. It has been surfacing recently: Is the Christian life, as we have been taught, sustainable?  Now the validity of this question may in and of itself be questioned as a result of the subject-ability of all the ways we have been taught and individual interpretations of the words from the pulpit. The question still remains why is it that what many of us were thought to believe a "mature Christian" is one who lives in some sort of euphoric experience of being "on fire for Jesus" combined with fanatical piety. I don't know about you, but if this is what it actually is to be a "Christian", I quit. This is not my continuous experience or with in my feeble capability.

It seems the landfill of my heart is filled to capacity of the shoulds and oughts of what my Christian experience should be and what I should do. So where is the hope of sustainability in the Christian life? If my heart truly feels like a landfill it seems that I have missed something, because I am pretty sure that this isn't the abundant life of what Jesus speaks. Where do we go from here? I find most often the conclusion is dispare. Dispare that what we thought it was to be a Christian is really NOT sustainable; therefore, it should be abandoned to some other way of life. Not that there is more hope in any other way of life, but at least there isn't the disappointment of unmet expectations.

If sustainability is really something that we are concerned about, then we should be talking about whether or not our experience as Christians is sustainable. If Jesus is the way, the truth and the life; then a life following him will be sustainable. If the way we are following Jesus isn't sustainable than one of two ideas we must reject. First, reject Jesus as the our Savior and God. Or second, reject the way we think the Christian life should be lived and experienced. Provided that following Him isn't sustainable; I wouldn't question Him --I would question how it is that I think this life should be.

How can the words that I hear become compost, nourishing the garden of my heart, rather than waste that takes up the space and capacity I have to truly love God? Where is the way to a sustainable Christian life? I can't imagine it would be trying hard, doing more or being consumed with guilt by believing that I am not having the experiences that I supposedly "should" be having. I know that life isn't sustainable. So I will journey on to discover the way of sustainability; maybe one day I will be a good hipster and discover the route.

This being said. I will rest in the words of the Psalmist "I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait for the LORD; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the LORD." (Psalm 27:13-14).