(Blog by Stan Kellner, President of Image Clear Ultrasound National – www.icumobile.org – Revealing life…at the crossroads of decision)
Sounds simple. In fact, too simple. Can one actually learn a spiritual life lesson from Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream? I think so.
I’m the type of guy who tries, at all costs, to avoid highway driving. My travels to and from my office take me through some beautiful country roads, along a serene lake, a pristine golf course, among other scenery amenities. My journey always takes me past an ice cream stand that just reopened recently, after a wonderful but cold and snowy winter here in Ohio.
Yesterday, I felt a wooing of the Holy Spirit to stop at the stand. Wait a minute! That’s just too spiritual sounding. Truth be told, I’d had a hankering all day for a savory ice cream cone, small enough so as not to ruin dinner but rich enough to quell my sugar cravings.
I was not disappointed with my experience. I stopped, got my ice cream cone – mint chocolate chip – and it was simply heavenly. I sat in my car, windows wide open, fresh air blowing through and just enjoyed the moment. In fact, it was one of the more invigorating moments I’ve had recently.
Now, don’t get me wrong – I LOVE my role at ICU National. Nine months into it, God has “birthed” an unbelievable fire and passion for our work, one that takes me on regular trips around the U.S. sharing our vision, working on our materials to continue to enhance our processes, our communication AND watching God grow our efforts – we now have nine affiliates in eight states!
If anything, this stop at the ice cream stand showed me a lesson that so many of us experience – it’s great to love what we do but because of that passion it’s hard sometimes to disconnect, to unplug, to just set aside some quiet time.
My Jewish upbringing taught me a key principle called the Sabbath “buffer”. As you probably know, every Friday night Jews around the world celebrate Sabbath or Shabbat (Hebrew transliteration). What you probably don’t know is that there is a built-in buffer of time leading up to the celebration that begins at sundown on Friday and a built-in buffer after celebration ends Saturday at sundown. In other words, while Sabbath calendars might show a clock-time for when Sabbath begins, it’s not like one moment it’s not Sabbath and the next moment it is. There is typically a gentle lead in and lead out.
My point – the culture in which we live and breathe has provided little opportunity for buffers. I love technology. It has simplified much of how we carry out business and ministry from day-to-day. However, I’ve noticed that it has also obliterated the “buffers” in our lives. How about these examples – catching up on calls while driving down I-5 in Seattle; feverishly working on emails at every airport layover; cell phones on 24/7 because we want to be available for that all important phone call (or at least it’s important in our mind).
How about this seeming oxymoron from the Bible – talking about a Sabbath rest for God’s people it says in Hebrews 4:11, “…therefore, let us be DILIGENT to enter that rest…” Interesting sounding contradiction – we have to be diligent to enter the Sabbath rest experience? Another translation says, “let us labor…” I think what God is telling us is that it is actually hard work for us to let go and let God do His thing. In another part of the Bible (Psalm 46:10) is the famous passage, “Be still and know that I am God”. Literally, the Hebrew says, “CEASE STRIVING and know that I am God”. Ooh! How convicting!
So, back to the ice cream stand experience. It was a moment in time when I didn’t care what emails were waiting, what the next day’s deadlines were, etc. By the way, a wise friend once said, “Stan, when you leave the office for the day, remember there’ll still be a pile tomorrow). In other words, we are not expendable. It isn’t a sign of super-spirituality to run ourselves ragged. We aren’t blest more by God because we work 16 hour days. Okay, okay. I’ll hop off my soapbox!
Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream will ring in my memory for days and weeks to come as a reminder that God is in control, I’m not. I need to put forth my best efforts BUT trust God for the results. Finally, an old preacher once said, “Unless we come apart and rest a while, we may just plain come apart!”
How about enjoying an ice cream cone today? Who knows what depth of spirituality that experience will bring?
