Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Evangelical
Family, Parenting and Religion
As the World Turns: Planetary Rotation and Daily Life

As the World Turns: Planetary Rotation and Daily Life

Last updated on: May 9, 2023 at 12:42 pm by Paul Louis Metzger

0 Comments

As the World Turns: Planetary Rotation and Daily Life 2023-05-09T12:42:58-07:00 Paul Louis Metzger

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Earth Rotation, Anton Yankovyi, 11 March 2011; Creative Commons. This long-exposure photo of the northern night sky above the Nepali Himalayas shows the apparent paths of the stars as Earth rotates.

On any given day, each of us experiences a wide range of motion and quite possibly a wide range of emotion. Our daily routines and rotations can also speed up and slow down. Life can appear erratic in view of the various changes. It’s kind of like the earth’s rotation. This post is about navigating, coping, and finding hope amid all life’s changes, as the world turns.

According to an article in Astronomy, “Earth’s rotation is erratic, with intermittent periods of speeding up and slowing down that interrupt the planet’s millions-of-years-long gradual slowdown.” The article goes on, “The rotation rate of Earth is a complicated business. It has to do with exchange of angular momentum between Earth and the atmosphere and the effects of the ocean and the effect of the moon,… You’re not able to predict what’s going to happen very far in the future.” Generally speaking, for my family, the world often turns slowly, very slowly at times, in view of my son’s TBI. Even so, there are abrupt changes in which the daily motion, emotion, and rotation appear erratic. It’s extremely hard to predict what will happen next.

The discussion of the earth’s rotation and our family’s experience reminds me of the old, classic soap opera, As the World Turns, created by Irna Phillips. I never really watched the show, but if I recall correctly, one or more of my elderly relatives often watched it when I was a child. All I remember was how slow the show seemed to go. Not very enticing to a kid. According to one site, “Phillips’ style favored gradual evolution over radical change. Slow, conversational, and emotionally intense, the show moved at the pace of life itself – and sometimes even more slowly than that.”

That’s how it is now for us much of the time. My son Christopher’s saga moves “at the pace of life itself”—and most often, not just “sometimes,” “even more slowly than that.” The difference for me now from when I was a child is that any change, no matter how narrow the range of motion or how subtle the emotion, becomes like a high-paced thriller or action movie to me.

Case in point. Sunday, my wife Mariko reported a very limited but nonetheless significant change by way of range of motion and emotion for Christopher. The CNA

“left detailed notes again. She said Christopher did an amazing job with range of motions and putting both arms through a t-shirt, especially the left. I can’t read some of what she wrote but she said he smiled. When she repositioned him to the door, he wasn’t happy. He wanted to look outside through the window. He seemed tired and fell asleep after she was finished. It didn’t seem he was on the chair, but I am fine with it because she is very sensitive to his needs. He’s sleeping with eyes open right now.”

I enthusiastically relayed the report to our medical consultant Dr. Robert Potter (M.D., Ph.D.) yesterday morning:

“I was quite encouraged by the report that Christopher put both arms through his t-short, especially the left arm. As you know, that is the side of the body that we were led to believe would never be active again. I was also encouraged by Christopher’s range of emotions that express his interests/desires. What thoughts might you have in response to this CNA report? This is the same CNA who reported recently that Christopher said, ‘Good morning’ to her at early morning shift change.”

Dr. Potter responded:

“The CNA report is very encouraging. To move the left arm means that motor neurons on the right side of the brain are being recovered through neuroplasticity—the rebuilding or reassigning function to specific motor cells. Remember that neurons do not reproduce. There is only reassignment of function to existing neurons. There is no other explanation.”

I must confess that I was ecstatic. My motions and emotions moved light years ahead in that moment. It is not often the case that Dr. Potter uses “very” in a sentence! He is always measured, as is the case for him here.

What about me? I was pushing and pulling emotionally yesterday and praying that Christopher would manifest another movement in the right direction for all eyes to see. How I longed for Monday night’s episode to follow where Christopher and his CNA left off Sunday evening. But that was not the case yesterday. Nor so far today. Instead of progress, we were met with the ambulance service failing to show up this morning and transport Christopher to the hospital for his feeding tube replacement. Another lengthy delay. Another emotional gut-punch. Perhaps slow progress will resume tomorrow.

To return to As the World Turns, I would be thrilled to witness “radical change,” but will settle for “gradual evolution.” What you find here often in our situation is “slow, conversational,” and sometimes “emotionally intense” movements, following Christopher’s own “pace of life,” which moves “sometimes even more slowly than” life itself. But again, I will settle for very slow progress over no progress any day of the week or years ahead.

I will also settle for how one’s character does not develop quickly, but slowly, and often through the most difficult and arduous seasons of life. It is worth noting here that in As the World Turns, Irna Phillips “favored character development and psychological realism over melodrama.” By way of comparison, God favors the development of our character and realism to celebrity and fantasy. Thus, it is good to “glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.” (Romans 5:3-4; NIV) We might not win a golden globe, but character refined like gold partakes of God’s eternal glory.

If I expect Christopher and me to speed up our rotation and turn things around at lightning speed, I will be extremely disappointed. But if I step back and slow down and take a deep breath and ponder the Earth’s own erratic rotation over countless years and generations, I might regain perspective. This week’s saga with TBI and life events is just a blip on the screen. The rotation keeps going, making intentional, methodical, prayerful, hopeful effort not to run around in circles.

No matter how slow life goes, no matter the challenges we face, I will choose the slow, challenging process involving the ride range of motion, emotion, and rotation. I am confident that no matter the pace, Christopher’s suffering and our own will produce perseverance, character, and hope. There is no other explanation, no shortcut to the rebuilding of Christopher’s brain and healing and transformation of our character. Let this slow-motion work continue, as the world turns.

Family, Parenting and Religion

About Paul Louis Metzger

Paul Louis Metzger, Ph.D., is Professor of Theology & Culture, Multnomah University & Seminary; Director of The Institute for Cultural Engagement: New Wine, New Wineskins; and Author and Editor of numerous works, including The Word of Christ and the World of Culture: Sacred and Secular through the Theology of Karl Barth (Eerdmans, 2003) and Setting the Spiritual Clock: Sacred Time Breaking Through the Secular Eclipse (Cascade, 2020). You can read more about the author here.

Previous Post

May 7, 2023

Always Look on the Bright Side of Life for Holistic Health

Next Post

May 13, 2023 A Trip Down Memory Lane: Highway 61 Revisited Hawaiian Style

Recent Comments

0 | Leave a Comment

"Humility is a powerful weapon of mass construction. "On Palm Sunday, Jesus rides in triumph ..."

Dr.Cajetan Coelho

Holy Week Is Humble Week: “Beware ..."

"There is a new counter-apologetic method which is successfully being used against the arguments of ..."

Gary M

Heavenly Father’s Day on Trinity Sunday

"A throwaway culture cannot be our way of proceeding was often emphasized by the late ..."

Dr.Cajetan Coelho

Excavating the Person in a Throwaway ..."

"Dr. Metzger, I appreciate your insight and transparency in this post. I have just added ..."

Jeff McLain

Embracing Emotions’ Full Range: From Grief ..."

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month June 2025 April 2025 March 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz