RUNNING ON A HAMSTER WHEEL

It is the third week of John Wesley’s Manifesto and we are looking at the line: “help everyone feel they can make a difference.”

How often are you at work, or at church, or at home, and you feel like a hamster on a wheel, running and running, and never going anywhere?

·        X  It’s just one large circle.

·         X The view never changes; a destination is never reached.

That’s bad enough, but have you seen the video of one hamster running on a wheel, when a second hamster hops on and starts running? The first hamster loses his footing and just hangs on the edge. His buddy doesn’t seem to care, and keeps running and running, while the wheel just keeps hitting that first hamster in the back?

And if you google hamster fails, then you’ll see several videos of a single hamster running so fast that it suddenly starts riding the wheel around and around, until it spins out of the wheel and lands somewhere off camera.

Watching hamster videos online is amusing, but it makes me think. Are we:

1.     - The hamster that just stays on the same wheel never going anywhere?

2.     - The hamster finding that the next person is going so fast that it can’t keep up?

3.     - The hamster that finds the world going so fast that all it can do is try to hang on until it flies off?

I gotta say I’ve felt like each of these hamsters at some point, and it’s not a happy feeling, is it?

·       That being said, what does a running hamster have to do with John Wesley’s manifesto?

·         Is that hamster making any sort of difference? (other than getting the person watching the video to giggle?)

When we are caught up in the “rat race” or “running on a hamster wheel”, we don’t feel like we’re making a difference. And when we’re not making a difference, do we feel God’s hand? I don’t think so. Now, my faith definitely says that God is always with me. That God has called me, as a deacon, to be generous, and serve in the areas of compassion, justice and service. But sometimes, I just don’t feel it. Tell me I’m not the only one out there, am I?

But then there are times when the world is spinning fast (like a hamster wheel), but I feel like what I am doing IS making a difference. That’s a whole different perspective. What if that hamster wheel was powering the lights in a room? What if that hamster wheel was grinding corn meal? That hamster is still running; but it is making a difference.

There can be days when I feel completely overwhelmed, but then there are other days where I am equally as busy but feel like a difference is being made.

            Sit quietly for a moment and think about that: can you remember an instance of each?

If we must feel like WE make a difference, we have to help everyone feel like they are making a difference as well.

The version of the manifesto I have says “help everyone to feel they can make a difference.” But another version I found online says it this way: “empower everyone to feel they can make a difference.”

The definition of empower is to “give (someone) the authority or power to do something” and “make (someone) stronger and more confident, especially in controlling their life and claiming their rights.” THAT means to:

·         X Help them claim their rights

·         X Help them control their life

·         X Make them stronger

·         X Make them more confident

This is justice personified! 

What kind of hamster are you and how can YOU make a difference in helping others making a difference? 

How are you empowering others?