EmPulse for Week of Oct 4, 2010
weebles wobble… .
Weebles is a trademark for several lines of children’s roly-poly toys designed by Hasbro‘s Playskool Division, premiering, July, 1971. Shaped like eggs with a weight at the fat, or bottom end, they wobble when pushed, but never fall completely over, hence the name and the slogan “weebles wobble, but they don’t fall down.” Weebles were re-introduced to our society in 2000 and have continued to wrap themselves around toddlers’ hearts, not to mention their not-as-steady parents.
My kids loved Weebles. They would teeter-totter, roll over, flip upside down… almost, or bounce down-stairs, and never, NEVER fall down. They always landed right-side up. Eventually our kids caught on to the idea or righting themselves and kept their balance as well, thus leading to adulthood (minus the wobbly teenage years) and, in due course, productive, creative lives.
Many of us are like Weebles. We bounce around in life, flip over, and somehow manage to land upright, resilient, no matter what we do. This is a gift; don’t mess with it. Others of us aren’t quite as Weeble-like. We, too, wobble around in life…, but we never seem to land upright. Why is that? With Weebles, it is because they are weighted at their bottoms. (And no, I’m not going there.) It is because their center of gravity is such that it stabilizes them to always upright themselves. With we homo erectus types it is much the same. If we have a center, a foundational weight that anchors us in life, we tend to right ourselves more readily than those who have no such center or foundational grounding.
So, as you begin your daily foray into the fray ask yourself some questions.
- Am I aware of my foundational center? To what extent does it influence my behavior, work attitude, and relationships with those around me?
- How do I know (epistemology) my center is grounded in real-reality, versus wishful fantasy?
- Does my faith in my foundational center work for me, really? Will it work for others? Why? How?
- On a 1-10 scale, to what extent do I wobble in life? How can I find sure-footing, stability, Weeble-like re-righting?
- Is there some spiritual substance, some sacred reality I need to plug into to make more sense of where I am right now?
- Does my faith carry me through dark waters? Is it based in enough concrete history and present-day demonstration to be truly real ?
Sorting through the Weeble-wobble of daily decisions and life challenging events is no simple matter. Having a central core, founded in real-reality, integrated into the simple and complex traffic of our lives is essential, these days, just to get by. None of us have the luxury of going off to work, to household management, or into silent hibernation without a deep, rich core of confidence in something that will carry us through.
Have a nice week.
Gary
Clueless Christianity 