Look in a history book or an art book sometime and peruse
the paintings from the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome. You know, the little cherubs and the picture
of Adam and God reaching toward each other, fingers almost touching but never
quite meeting. It’s that particular
picture I’ve been thinking about lately.
That gap between the fingers and what it represents…
I’ve had moments when I felt like the fingers
touched. That moment when you realize
the answer to something that’s been bothering you for days. The moment a major migraine finally goes away
and you are staggering from the lack of pain for a moment. The universe swoops down and gives you a
gift, touches you in a way it usually doesn’t feel you deserve.
The thing to notice, however, is that in looking at the
whole picture you discover that Adam is lounging, feeling numb and lazy, and
God is the figure that’s reaching for something. It’s not an active searching, whereas in real
life, we are constantly beating our heads against various walls, striving for
that epiphany.
Is that the lesson in itself? Just reach out. Relax, stop panicking and hold out your hand
and something enlightening might happen.
A wise man once said there are two kinds of people who
take showers… yeah, everyone takes showers.
That was his point. One kind just
lets the water flow over them and gets ideas, but then forgets about them as
soon as he’s dry. They are nothing more
than an in flight video during the act of getting clean. The other kind remembers the ideas he had and
does something with them. The shower is
about ideas, and getting clean comes automatically, without thought. No one but a child has to concentrate much on
how to use shampoo. It just
happens. This is the time when your mind
can be free.
This is Adam, relaxing, begging for a moment to call his
own during a long day of naming animals and tending the garden. This is when God is going to reach out, when
your mind isn’t clouded with everything else, because you’ve allowed those
problems to wash down the drain with the physical dirt of the day.
Prepare for the zap.
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