Lord, Let Me Be a Spinning Plate for Thee

If you're of "a certain age," you'll remember the guy who always showed up on "The Ed Sullivan Show" spinning plates. The poor guy would start one plate spinning around a tall stick, then another, then another, then another. By the time he got the fourth or fifth plate spinning, he'd have to come back to the first plate and second plates to give them a good spin to keep them going before he could even think about launching a sixth plate.

Eventually, he'd have a good dozen or so plates spinning on those tall sticks while he ran around between all of them, holding each stick and giving each plate a good spin to keep it revolving around its axis. And at the very end of his act, he'd quickly run down the row, retrieving all of his plates in a hurry before they slowed down enough to begin dropping down to the ground.

Now before I get to my spiritual illustration in all of this, let me point out that I'm no scientist. I'm sure any physicist or eighth grade science teacher worth her salt could point out the flaws in my theory, but I'm going to use the image for my point anyway. So just go with me here.

I think there are two reasons these plates were able to spin in mid-air successfully. First, they kept moving. And second, each of the plates had a focal point.

And if you've ever read any books on Christian living, you know exactly where I'm going here.

Number one: If we don't keep moving spiritually...if we don't keep learning and growing in Christ...we're going to fall down. We've got to keep looking for ways to move ahead as Christ leads us. We need to listen for His voice as He calls us to follow Him in the ever-changing adventure of life and store up His word in our hearts to strengthen us for the times ahead.

Number two: If we don't have a focal point, we will become spiritual frisbees. If our plate-spinning guy had launched those plates spinning without those sticks, that's exactly what his show would have become...with disastrous results for the audience in the first few rows! We must keep our hearts and minds focused on Christ and His will for our lives.

Balance is an important quality in our lives; the older I get, the more I realize this to be true. Movement is also necessary...not just physically, but also mentally and spiritually. Look back at your life over the past month or the past year and see if you're in the same place that you were before.

Those plates may have seemed like they were staying in the same place because they kept the same focus, but remember...they were always moving. How could you tell?