Playing With The Holy Spirit

"Life is like..." (Not just like a box of chocolates.)

Aug 27, 2023

Have you ever seen the movie Parenthood? It came out in 1989 starring Steve Martin and Mary Steenburgen. It was directed by “Opie” (Ron Howard) and is a wonderful feel-good movie about Family. Toward the end of the movie Steve Martin who plays a Dad named “Gil” is expressing his anxiety about having another child in the face of some current issues with the children they already have and the money they already don’t have… you know… everyday life. Suddenly the very elderly grandmother engages him in a seemingly unconnected and untimely tangent about her love for rollercoasters:

Grandma:
You know, when I was nineteen, Grandpa took me on a roller coaster.
Gil:
Oh?
Grandma:
Up, down, up, down. Oh, what a ride!
Gil:
What a great story.
Grandma:
I always wanted to go again. You know, it was just so interesting to me that a ride could make me so frightened, so scared, so sick, so excited, and so thrilled all together! Some didn't like it. They went on the merry-go-round. That just goes around. Nothing. I like the roller coaster. You get more out of it.

After this moment Gil thinks Grandma’s nuts but his wife, who immediately understands the simile, exclaims that Grandma is “brilliant”.

Grandma has wisdom. She’s aligning life with the rollercoaster ride. Something that could make you so “frightened, scared, sick, excited, and thrilled” in one journey.

When I was researching this dialogue, I saw a title that said “life is not a rollercoaster. It’s a journey.” Well, yes. But it’s a journey that can feel like a rollercoaster (or a hike, a boat ride, a bungee jump… take your pick). This is how simile (or metaphor, eg. Life IS a rollercoaster) works. Storytelling. It helps us to search the depths of the mystery of the life we’ve been given to live.

Recently, I’ve not only experienced the rollercoaster ride comparison but my close friends, I’ve witnessed, are experiencing it, too. I have friends moving across the country, (my husband and I are also moving halfway across the states.1) I have friends currently losing jobs, going back to school at middle age for a masters they never knew they wanted, going through major physical healing crises, struggling with loneliness, embarking on new seasons of their life, raising a child alone, or about to just burst from endless “waiting”… the list goes on.

So now I’m going to play “Rollercoaster” with the Holy Spirit - knowing this doesn’t “mean” anything about you, but when we are creative about how we recognize our positioning in the journey, it helps shift and clarify our perspective. We become the watcher. (I’ve done this before with being “Rewired”.)

WHERE ARE YOU ON THE ACTUAL COASTER?

Are you in the front with arms up in the air not caring a whip about the safety bar or seat belt; allowing your bare feet to dangle? Do you like to see what’s coming first so you can warn others? (Or just so you can know what’s coming for your own sake?) Do you just love the scream of it? Is life just like one big exclamation of “Weeeeeeeee!”?

Are you in the middle of the long train of cars? Are you in the middle of your car with others at your sides so you know you can’t fall out?

Do you like the back of the ride so you can feel every little dip, twist, and bump? Or is it because you feel unseen? Or did someone put “baby in the corner”?

WITH WHAT KIND OF COASTER ARE YOU PARTNERING?

I could have titled it “What kind of coaster are you riding… or choosing to ride.” But when you partner with something you are taking responsibility for your part in the relationship. (You promenade, you do-si-do…) So if you are on a spinning out of control loop-de-loop hanging upside down at the whim of some invisible carny flipping a switch – my question here would be… “why?”.

Do you like the mini-coasters…just enough thrill so you feel exhilaration but don’t vomit after you’re through?

WHAT PART OF THIS COASTER IS IN PLAY?

Are you “coasting” right now in for the stop or out for the new journey? Heading upwards (chink-chink-chink-chink)? At the tippy tippy top juuuusssst before gravity takes you for the swooping downhill thrill? Are you hanging and waiting? Has the coaster suddenly come to an unexpected stop in the middle of the ride? (This is where you get to contemplate “Why”.)

WHO CAME ALONG FOR THE RIDE?

Who’s sitting beside, in front, between or behind you? How do you feel about that? Do they like the coaster you chose? Did you choose it? (See above).

HOW MANY TIMES HAVE YOU RIDDEN THIS COASTER?

Is this still advisable? Does the current ride feel more like a hamster in his spinning wheel? Or as Grandma said: “the merry go round.”

DO YOU NEED TO STEP OFF?

Is this really your ride? Did someone choose it for you long ago? (Someone whose been gone a long time and why the heck are you still riding their ride?!)

“Stepping off” does NOT mean exiting life. It means taking a breath. Getting still. Taking time to remember, reflect, contemplate, meditate and above all LISTEN after all the noise of the scream has subsided. Planes go into holding patterns above the city until it is safe to land.

Maybe your journey is now a hike on foot. Maybe you would rather use your feet to climb that hill and stand still at the summit surveying the big picture.

Rollercoaster is a fun comparison. But there are others.

IS LIFE LIKE A RESURRECTION?

Does your life feel like a resurrection? Do you feel you are made new with new choices and possibilities on the horizon? Are you making changes, removing obstacles? Suddenly you feel the great shift of hope in your life? Do you feel a fire burning within you to serve with the gifts you’ve been given? Do you feel alive again?

IS LIFE LIKE BEING NAILED TO A CROSS?

Do you feel like you are nailed to a cross? Exposed, vulnerable, asking “why me?”, nothing left to rely on but God. Has hopelessness entered in? Do you need to look up? (You do.) If this is you, reach out for a loving hand. Being nailed to the cross isn’t the end. It’s the beginning. Jesus was not alone even though his closest friends deserted at his lowest moment. Suffering is redemptive and can be sacrificed up to something beautiful. You might need help to see it. Ask for someone to walk with you. God will meet you in your suffering. Ask God for help. Make that call.

I’d like to know if you played this game today… what would it be titled? Try to take it seriously but with love and play. (Resist the urge to be sarcastic about it). I believe the Holy Spirit loves to play this game with you. Invite the Spirit in!

Share with me what came up!