life in a fishbowl

current song: "Video" - Ben Folds Five

Life in a fishbowl. It was the thought that came to me as I sat here considering the events of the past week, and all of the things that are coming up. Life in a fishbowl, you ask? I'll explain...

There are two explanations really...Here's the first.

I had good friend ask my my thoughts on free will/destiny/fate - all that good stuff. They were wondering what my feeling were on how much God actually orchestrates in our lives, or what is really left up to us to decide. My friend Ben once told me a great explanation of his thoughts on this, and I would say that I tend to agree with it. I actually think it was his dad's analogy - props to Pastor Henry. But here's where the "life in fishbowl" thing comes in. We're in the world - a fishbowl if you will. We can swim wherever we want within the fishbowl. We can swim up towards the top of the bowl making little bubbles rise to the top, down towards the bottom of the bowl, scraping our little bellies on the gravel below, we can swim through the little rock tunnels, hide behind the fake plastic trees (ha! Radiohead reference!), or even chill out with the little scuba diver who's made a home in our fishbowl. We have plenty of options on where to swim - they almost seem endless. However, we ARE still within the confines of the fishbowl - we are still mortal, we can still die, and we do have the ability to create quite a bit of destruction. We are surrounded by a glass bowl which represents our limitations. We also have an owner...No fish lives in a fishbowl & survives with someone taking care of them. That "owner" may provide nourishment for the fish, it may clean out the tank everynow and then, or rearrange the scuba man from one side to the other. The "owner" may do it, and the fish is totally oblivious to it. Other times, it takes our complete removal from the fishbowl to take care of the fish. Again, this is pretty abstract, but it's helped me sort of gain handles on God's role regarding free will/fate type issues.

current song: "Different Situation" - Athaneum

The other idea I had behind "life in a fishbowl" isn't as abstract or deep. It was moreso like I felt like I was hitting the glass tank a lot lately. Have you ever felt that way? I seriously feel like a dunce lately...I feel like I'm swimming full force at the glass, and all looks clear - I'm not even AWARE the glass exists. So full force I head towards it and WHAP - smack into the glass. Have you ever seen a fish do that? It's kinda funny...I always snicker when I see it. But at the same time, the fish is somewhat dazed and confused for the moment. He was sure he had more clearance...only to be smacked in the face! I gotta stop swimming into the glass...

ending song "I Hope I Just Didn't Give Away The Ending" - New Radicals

Life in a fishbowl...A comforting, yet awakening thought...Maybe I'll just have to hang out with the scuba man for a while.
Goodnight, one and all.