I’d eat a balanced meal if I could have it in a pill

I loved when Captain Kirk and his crew would step on the Transporter and, virtually instantly, would appear on the surface of the planet below. Think about it: he did not have to go online to find the best ticket prices, did not have to wait in line to get their tickets, did not have to pass through a security check (Sir, really, the Phaser is fine, but those tweezers have to stay behind…) did not have to endure a long trip with the child behind him watching the same episode of Barney on his portable player over and over again, did not have to listen to the unnamed crewman’s persistent whining about knowing he was going to die and did not have to go through customs and explain that he was there simply to conquer the planet and find his next girlfriend. Kirk’s travelling gratification was instantaneous. When he needed to go, he went.

We are a society that has lost its patience. We are catered to by drive-thru (not through, because that takes too long to write and even longer to read…) eateries that have our food ready moments after we’ve ordered it. If we’ve made a reservation we can skip through the restaurant and straight to our table and if we don’t want to go out, we can have an instant pizza and wash it down with instant coffee. Nobody likes waiting any more. I don’t even think that waiting will be in the dictionary much longer since we are all so impatient.

We also want things to be easy. Kirk’s trip on the transporter demanded nothing more of him than he stand there. At the restaurant we are miffed if there are too many menu choices and don’t like having to decide between the soup or the salad. Furniture assembly should not require the skill of a mechanic. Computers should be operable by dummies. Televisions should read our minds and pick our channels for us. If it doesn’t happen in an instant and isn’t easy to do, we lose interest and give up. If I could eat my balanced meal by simply taking a pill my life would be a lot better, and I would be a lot slimmer.

There is something wonderful, however about being patient and enjoying the ride. It might seem to take forever to fly across and ocean but what if that time were seen as an opportunity to simply be. sure, the cabin is crowded and the child behind you might be annoying, but that’s a choice that is made. Even in the midst of din and noise of an airplane crammed with smelly people there is room to breathe and be. If nothing else, it’s an opportunity to be the nice, quiet person in the space that exudes an air of calmness.

A long time ago I and a bunch of friends were waiting in line to see the Toronto premiere of a major movie. It was boring and tedious to just stand there. We kept ourselves amused during the long wait and eventually drew the curiosity of an American gentleman in the queue waiting just behind us. It turned out that he was a Square dance caller, so there in the midst of this waiting throng, we danced as he called. Rather than letting boredom silence us or impatience make us annoying, our fun and camaraderie as a group of friends invited this gentlemen to share our joy and he, in turn, shared his joy with us. There is holiness in waiting.

When something is easy, it is also meaningless. When there is no challenge there is no involvement or investment. I think of the number of thrillseekers pushing themselves to ever more dangerous activities in order to stimulate themselves, in order to have a sense of meaning and purpose, in order to make themselves feel alive. I wonder if the rest of their lives is so easy that it has become nothing but boredom and drudgery. We no longer have to struggle to obtain our food; we live in comfortable homes that ensure we never have to fight the elements; we travel with an ease and safety that is almost as amazing as the Star Trek transporter.

Human beings are not designed for ‘easy’ it would appear. Quick solutions don’t work. I might one day eat a balanced meal in a pill, but that would then keep me from enjoying the basic act of eating. It would also mean that I had no personal investment in the act; I would not be involved in making the right choices, in limiting the size and frequency of my meals, of taking hold of my life and assuming responsibility for myself.

On the other hand, looking for the easy solution is often the longest, most difficult way of solving the problem. I can’t tell you how often I pored over my previous prepared prayers when putting together a worship service just so that I could spare myself the effort of writing something new. Not only did the easy way prove to be the most time consuming one, it also took more effort than creating something new because I would have to adapt the old prayers to fit the new situation. Sometimes the easy way out is to do face the task at hand an do it. I would have been better served to take a few moments in prayer and then start afresh rather than hoping to find a usable nugget in the past-their-due-date old treasures. Sometimes the easy way out is just a cop-out.