When Worlds Collide

Yesterday was my “official” day off from all things church. I do my best to vegetate, relax, handle what I want to handle, go where I need to go and try to ignore demands on my time.

It doesn’t always work.

Saturday was full of news about the closing of 2022. Embedded was the story of a tragic snowcat accident with a Hollywood star.

Sunday night, I learned my “go-to radio voice” from my local scene died of a heart attack Saturday night. Before church, I’m thankful I pay no attention to Sunday morning news cycles, or this may have been on my mind.

Then, Monday evening news was full of the crisis on Monday Night Football. As I write, it’s unknown whether the player will survive.

Between the tragedies, life is happening at full speed.

I’m generally pretty good at keeping my worlds in their special places, but when the news pops in, it’s difficult not to let them collide.

Managing Colliding Worlds

This got me thinking about life through the centuries. It wasn’t too long ago that news was weeks, months, and years in coming. You could work in the dark and not worry about what was happening.

Today? World news is instantly accessed. Every continent, country, county, and city. Technology gets us to the house level on every street and corner worldwide.

There is no escape from the news. When it’s tragic, your worlds have collided, and there’s not much use in separating them. The best thing to do is learn to manage the world with the collision spilling debris everywhere.

During the pandemic, we had so much scary news it became difficult to define how the worlds will ever separate so you can manage them individually as you once did.

Compartmentalized life is not working out. Tragedy and struggle bleed from one world to the other.

How do you handle the daily routine when everything else is falling apart?

What’s Most Important?

A long time ago, I resolved to understand that the focus I give is easily blurred when I allow the lines to blur.

Every so often, I have globes of blurriness float across my eyes. The doctor says it’s nothing to worry about, but how do you stop them? For the most part, a dark room, closed eyes, relaxed mind…Watch out. I feel a power nap coming on! Open my eyes. Poof! Gone!

Maybe I need my worlds to go into a power nap mode!

Do you bring work home with you? Do you take home life with you to work? Can you build a fence between those two worlds and keep them from colliding? If you go home and take work with you, are you working more than you should? Or, can you go to work with the home life struggles occupying your focus? Are you giving your company your all? Family? Where’s your focus?

There are many times we balance life between the necessities of both worlds.

In today’s world, a worker can take six weeks off when a new baby is born into their home. In my day? I was expected at work the next day. Is it better now? Perhaps. Was it worse back then? I’m not so sure. We knew no better. That was just the way life was. Today? It’s different.

The key may be comparing the proverbial apples to oranges.

When worlds collide, it’s like juggling chainsaws. Your attention to their position is necessarily focused, but other chainsaws are floating around you! No sleeping or distractions, please!

January 1

Last Sunday, I was blessed to set my personal world into the zone of a new year. There will always be a merging of worlds. But what is my focus? What’s primary?

What did I do to tell the New Year I am in focus? What did you do? Is it too late to create focus? No. Not yet!

Jesus tells us about focus in his beatitude teaching in Matthew:

But seek first the kingdom of God
and His righteousness,
and all these things shall be added to you.
(Matthew 6:33 NKJV)

Could it be this easy? There will be challenges. Worlds will collide. But when your focus is set on things above? Paul, what do you think about it?

For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh,
but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.
For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
(Romans 8:5-6 NKJV)

Keep this trend going daily; by day 365 of 2023, you will have your world established. It will be easier to carry it over into the next collection of time.