The Beauty of Chaos

You make the first step, only to be struck by

the woman with child.  You’ll need to be

more aggressive if you ever hope to make it. 

You cut off the 6 yr. old–she’s too little

anyway–only to get hip checked by her

grandma. The battle is fierce.  You dodge the

returners. Surely this is not a one way street

you think to yourself as a little old lady with

a cane mistakes your foot with floor. 

Shake it off, you tell yourself.  You’re almost

there.  A few more nudges, maybe a bruise

or two, and you’ll finally be there. 

This battle is worth it, though long and hard-fought. 

This battle’s a matter of life.

 

No, this isn’t the bathroom line at the baseball game nor is it the line for those front row concert tickets.  It’s not Toys R Us’ Black Friday lie nor is it the line to see Harry Potter on opening night.  This line, this hard-fought battle, is far more important than any of that.  It is the Eucharist line at a Lithuanian church.

 

The first time I went to mass in Lithuania, I hated the chaos of it, especially the Eucharist.  It’s not quite what I described earlier but if you’re not careful, you will get run over.  People don’t go row by row in a nice orderly fashion like I’m used to.  Instead, it’s pretty much a free for all to see who can reach the priest first.  Kind of like a big kid version of red light, green light.  Sure some people may get bumped and shoved but it’s never intentionally like I made it seem.

 

What I realized this past Sunday though is how truly beautiful this chaos is.  Everybody is rushing to get to Jesus.  I mean, sure, we all want to let others go before us in a nice orderly fashion…but not when it comes to Jesus!  We want Jesus; we need Jesus!

 

Think of it like an oasis.  We are all people wandering in this desert of life with nothing to drink when we see someone up ahead offering Christ, the Living Water!  You’re going to do whatever you can to get to this oasis of Living Water, wouldn’t you?  Order is not an option.

 

I think of Mass back home and all the people who simply receive out of routine.  I can’t help but compare (even though I shouldn’t…) that to the people here who practically run to their Living Water each week.  It’s not routine for them.  You can see it in their eyes.  You can see it in the way they flood the churches and care care less if they have to stand.  This is faith my friends.

 

How much different would my life be if I always ran to the Living Water?  How different would it be if each time I received His body and received His blood, I saw Him as my oasis, my life source?  How different would my life be if I wasn’t afraid to cause a little chaos on His behalf?  And how about you?  How different would your life be?

 

Following Christ is not always about order.  Sometimes, we need to run after Him and not be afraid of the chaos that may follow.

  After all, often times the true beauty lies within chaos.