My fun loving wife bought two hamsters for Christmas last year.  Cody and Emma named them Spot and Brownie (Spot has a spot and Brownie is brown).  My kids love the little rodents and so does Tiger (our cat) albeit for different reasons.  They spend a lot of time running on those little wheels.  Brownie is a much better wheel runner; mostly because Spot is a better eater and has a hard time getting his considerable bulk and his waggly rear moving in any kind of regulated rhythm.  It is captivatingly funny to watch a fat hamster with a big butt run on a too small wheel.  Brownie is svelte, and a long as his wheel isn’t crammed up against his drink dispenser, he can really get the thing hummin’.  Both of them have a weird habit of sticking their head out the side of the wheel.  I think they are trying to see where they are going.  It’s a little dangerous because the wheel spokes are spinning as fast as the wheel and there is considerable risk of guillotining.  My theory is that as soon as the wheel is spinning fast enough to be satisfying, the mesh screen of the wheel blocks their forward vision.  So they have to look out the side.  Ironic isn’t it? 

         People are a lot like that.  We treat life like a big hamster wheel.  Always running.  Either chasing something or running from it.  Rarely standing still.  But we’re on a wheel that spins in concentric circles, never letting us make any forward progress.  Some people get really proficient, like Brownie.  They become phenomenal runners.  Trim and sleek, they can run so fast that you can barely see the wheel from the outside.  But from where they are, it’s a solid wall over, under, behind and in front of them.  Others figure they won’t be able to run fast, like Spot, so they build better wheels.  They invent frictionless bearings and high traction surfaces.  They build ergonomic controls and flat screen HDTV’s on gyroscopes so they can distract themselves from their running.  But, they don’t stop running.  Some of us direct all our energy and focus towards it.  Some of us try to pretend like we’re not running at all.  But rarely does anyone ever get off the wheel. 

         The only way to see where we are going is to poke our heads out the side through the spokes.  Gauging progress like that is very dangerous.  Those that are professional runners have created a momentum that they rely on.  The spokes are going very fast and anything but a quick look will negatively affect the efficiency they have worked so hard to foster.  Those who have built super wheels have done so taking into account the constant spinning.  If the wheel slows or stops, gyroscopes crash, bearings tremble, ergonomics become useless…  And for both of them, there is the ever present danger of having their head removed by a spoke.

         Our hamsters run mostly in the dark.  They are in a glass cage with a towel over it.  Every one in the house is asleep or listening to the spinning wheels.  They can’t see where they’re going even if they do look.  If they come out of the wheel during the day, one of the kids will be there to pick them up and snuggle them.  They will get to play and be told how cute they are.  They will get to be part of the family.  They get to run all over the house that’s infinitely bigger and more exciting than their cage.  They are protected and safe (as long as Tiger’s outside) and able to run without the wheel. 

         Yeah, people are like that.  It wastes a lot of time and energy, but man are we dedicated to it.  God didn’t invent wheels.  He invented people.  He gave us a garden and we made wheels instead.  All through history we’ve been running on those stupid, useless wheels trying to get to God and the wheel is the thing that is in the way!  We know it to.  We can all feel that the wheel is not working, and when we glimpse through the spokes and see the Garden, and God standing there, we know that He is what we need. God can see through the wheel, He knows what we’re running from or chasing.  Sometimes He will jam a stick in the spokes and our wheel will jerk unceremoniously to a halt.  It really screws up the wheel, and generally makes us look stupid and clumsy (uh huh) but then we get picked up and snuggled by God.  Which is way better than looking cool on our wheel.  The trick is to stay with Him, follow Him around, do whatever He is doing and find our joy and purpose in Him instead of getting back on the wheel.

         There are three ways to spend your life/time:  chasing something, running from something or standing still.  Only those who stand still can see, the rest are blind.

 


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