Life is not DIY

Shadow work.

The example I think of is the first Back to the Future movie. When Marty goes back to the 1950s, among the first things he sees is a car pull up to the gas station, and five people come out to pump the gas, check the tires, wash the windshield, and collect the money. Marty, who has only known self-service, offered a quizzical look. I could get a little nostalgic about full service gas stations, especially on cold winter days. It was nice to pull up to the gas pump and have someone else do it all. You simply rolled down the window, told them what you wanted, and payed them. Today, of course, instead of all those people serving us, we get out of the car, pump the gas, and if anything else needs checking we do it.

Craig Lambert, Shadow Work: The Unpaid, Unseen Jobs That Fill Your Day, is the person getting me to reflect upon such matters. We are now checking ourselves out of the supermarket and depositing/withdrawing at ATM machines or over the smart phone. We can go on the Internet and solve many things that might have in the past concerned us, taken up time, and cost money.

Many of the things to which Mr. Lambert refers save us time. Doing it ourselves is also a way of making us feel empowered, when we are able to do what we thought only others could do for us. In fact, I vaguely recall pulling into a gas station when we had the option of a full service island or a self-service island. I am not much for mechanical things, so it was a little scary to me to do self-service, but saving the money was nice. At first, I had to pause and give it much thought, making sure I pushed the buttons in the right sequence.

However, the entire “do it yourself’ trend in our culture can lead to a spiritual dark side.

For example, it may make us feel exhausted, as we disburse our energies in so many different directions. We might think of the story of Martha in Luke 10:38-42. The busyness of the business of our culture can distract us. The urgent and the trivial can so easily take over our time. We need to learn to focus upon what is important and valuable. Asking that question leads into the realm of spirituality and discipleship.

My primary concern is the isolation that can happen as we busily engage doing it ourselves. As wonderful as the Internet can be, we cannot learn about following Jesus by staring at a screen. We may become skilled in do it yourself projects (I am not; my wife is), but discipleship is not something you do simply on your own. Learning to follow Jesus was not a do it yourself project for the first disciples, and it is not for us today.

Paul writes about the importance of the community in discipleship in I Corinthians 12-14. Each of us is part of a single body, with something to contribute to the whole and to receive from the whole. We need to see ourselves as the body of Christ in this world! He also wrote about the diversity of spiritual gifts that derive from the same Spirit. We need to strive for the greater gifts and choose the “more excellent way.” The Spirit works in and through each part of the Body of Christ, bringing greater identity with Christ and the maturing of our love. “Love never ends.” True, faith, hope and love will abide, but the greatest of even these is love.

 

The most important “shadow work” we do may not be the do it yourself variety at all. It may well be the shadow work of worshipping, learning, and serving that nourish the things that matter in our lives. Doing it yourself is fine, of course. Yet, we must not miss one of the most meaningful and purposeful aspects of our lives. Life is not a do it yourself project. A large part of our life project is recognizing our need for others instead of insisting that we can do it ourselves.