Chairs

 I work with very little people.  Jo Jingles classes start with babies over 3 months and finish when children go to nursery school aged 3 or 4.  Very occasionally we have a five year old in our classes.  But mostly they are under 4 and over the past 20 years I reckon Ive become a bit of an expert on what to expect from toddlers.

Pre Covid, parents who brought their wee ones to classes would sit on the floor in a circle with their kids, but when we re-started after lockdown we introduced chairs so that we could more easily keep the social distancing rules.  I have been fascinated to observe that even the tiniest children wants to go back to the same chair week after week.  Without any input from their adult they just immediately go to find the same seat they were in last week.  Same spot in the room.  Every time.  Pretty much all of them.    Really fascinating.  Prior to this I suppose Id always thought that the ' creature of habit' thing was a grown up trait.  I always laugh at how church people always sit in the same place for every service - it seems a bit silly.  But watching the tiny children do this very thing has made me wonder what it is that makes us do that.  It doesnt seem to be the learned behaviour that I assumed it was.   

My first thought is that it probably has something to do with a sense of safety and security.  If this chair was good for me last week, why would I risk choosing a different chair this week?   I know that this chair is good.  Another one might not be so good. 

Secondly it might be our inherent laziness.  We can't really be bothered to explore other options.  Its easy to stick with what we know. And this chair is comfy.  A new one might not be.

Thirdly , we might be afraid of offending someone else - what if we inadvertently sit in a chair that someone else has earmarked?  Could we deal with the confrontation?  Why risk overstepping the mark when it could lead to embarrassment or conflict?

Spiritual application?

Well,  over the course of the past couple of years I started to realise that spiritually I needed to change chairs.  I had been sitting in the same seat for quite a long time and I realised that actually that seat no longer gave me the best view of what was going on.  But its a bit scary doing something different. All of the ' chair' analogies above apply.  So I stayed where I was even though I knew deep down that it was time to move.  And then I started to not really even want to take a seat any more.  It was actually more tempting not to show up at all.  Spiritually.  I think over the past couple of years I came perilously close to stagnating completely.   Maybe Covid did that to all of us to some extent.  The enemy certainly used it to his advantage.   Thankfully God is a gazillion times more committed to my growth and health and progress than I am.   He managed to galvanise me to head for a different chair and it has made such a massive difference.  The view from here is different.  There are new people to meet, I feel rejuvenated and excited about being a Christian again.  Im not just pew filling.  Im in the right place again and it feels great.  Its not that the old chair was the wrong chair.  Its just that it was time to move on.

I dont think it's wrong to be a creature of habit.  We develop habits to make us feel secure, to bring order and discipline into our lives, to avoid pitfalls.  Good habits are essential in all sorts of areas of our lives.  But sometimes we need to be shaken up.  Sometimes we need to break an old habit and form a new one.  And it can be hard to recognise when that time has arrived - the input of friends and mentors can be really helpful to identify where we our habits are no longer fit for purpose.  

 I hope this has made at least some sense to someone out there.  It wasnt what I thought I was going to write when I started this today 😊

(This isnt really relevant I just came across it and it made me smile.)