Static

Have you ever put on a piece of clothing only to realize, after you left your house, that it was clinging to your every move?

Static.

And because you didn't have a bag of clothes stashed in your car for occasions such as this, you spend the rest of the day fighting the static cling. Every time you stand up you have to reach down and tug on your pants, shirt or whatever article of clothing that doesn't want to cooperate. But the static doesn't stop when you straighten out your clothes because with every step you take, the cling becomes worse. Eventually, your day becomes so centered around the static cling of your clothes, that you are unable to concentrate on anything else.

And then you get home and your spouse says, "hey honey, how was your day?" And all you can respond with is, "It was awful. I spent the entire day fighting the static in my clothes. And because of it, I didn't get anything done."

Okay, so maybe it has never been that bad, but you have to admit, static is really annoying; It sticks, clings, zaps and irritates even the most mellow of people. And for some reason, I couldn't help but relate it to a topic we were discussing in my bible study this morning. The topic was on living for "today" and not allowing good or bad experiences in the past, keep us from living and experiencing life today.

Life isn't static.

As soon as I heard that phrase, I had an image of the above scenario. And while I know it has nothing to do with static electricity, I can't help but draw some similarities from it. (It may be a little far fetched, but hear me out).

Do you ever think back to a time in your life where everything seemed great; where you think "that was the best period of my life", and then wish that somehow you could go back and stay in that moment or time forever? Do you often weigh your life experiences against that specific "time" in your life and find that they just don't compare, leaving you feeling unsatisfied and unfulfilled?

I know what that is like.

When Adam and I were first married, he was in his last two years of college and I was working to help support us. While we had very little money, we didn't realize it at the time because we had some great friendships. We spent many weeknights and most of our weekends together whether it be talking, laughing, hiking, fishing, shooting potato guns and everything in between that created wonderful memories and built a deep, lasting friendship. But life isn't static. Adam graduated and shortly after that we moved to Idaho. So much has changed in the 7 years since we were with those friends. Not only do we live in different states, but we all now have children, families, careers and homes (not to mention limited vacation days) that require our attention and time.

For the longest time we would compare our new friends with "that friendship", and they would never match up. It was what I consider our "static cling" because, as life moved on, we had a hard time finding friends that would fill that void. We kept looking for a friendship that looked and felt exactly like the one we had with Jacob and Maureen, and we would get more and more frustrated when it didn't turn out that way.

But somewhere along the way we have realized that we don't want a carbon copy friendship. It's not something to be replaced. It is surely a gift from the Lord and something worthy of celebrating, but it should not be used as a measuring tool against all other relationships. As we have rekindled old friendships and made new ones, we have had the chance to see what we could have missed if we had allowed the static cling to dictate our friendships.

I know it's cliche, but I want to encourage you to live for today; to experience the gifts the Lord has for you by being fully engaged in the present, not the past and not even the future.

It might even be a good idea to carry a dryer sheet around to, you know, keep the cling at bay.

Anna