Bandwidth Tunnel
I have a love/hate relationship with that sentence. It sounds high tech. That mystical cable to which I’m connected is limited. It just can’t handle any more capacity. My brain is full. My day is full. My wallet is empty. There is just no more room for one more concern. So I generally prioritize my needs first.
I am building my own kingdom. And the more I concern myself with my own available bandwidth, the less there seems to be.
One person gives freely, yet gains even more;
another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty.A generous person will prosper;
whoever refreshes others will be refreshed. Proverbs 11:24-25 NIV
Ouch. Note to Self: God’s kingdom has unlimited bandwidth. There is no cable. It’s wireless, it permeates walls. The only limit is our capacity to receive it — so the lack I perceive begins with me.
Time after time, Jesus is exhausted. He seems to go beyond his capacity to do more. Yet, He finds even more length at the end of His rope. At the end of a long day, He has the bandwidth to spend time with the little children. Is it possible He came away from that time just a little bit refreshed?
Crushed on all sides with crowds pressing in, He has the bandwidth to feel a single woman touch a thread of his garment. Is it possible the wide smile she gave Him upon her healing gave Him a lift as well?
Or when He felt parched in the hot sun, taking time to help the woman at the well understand how much she is loved, despite her mistakes, did that bring a smile to His own blessed face?
Our relationship with our Lord moves in two directions. When we respond to another’s needs, does it open up the conduit between ourselves and our Lord – the fundamental source of everything that animates us and gives us life?
Perhaps this week, consider whose kingdom your building. Experiment with stepping one toe out into discomfort: some time for someone who you don’t actually have time for; a little bigger check to the church than you think is reasonable. I will do the same, and my guess is, we will find more bandwidth just at the time we thought we had no more capacity at all.
by Carie Grant
