Spinning Plates

Spinning Plates

The trick is to keep smiling and keep the patter coming without losing the momentum on any one spin, so that none of the plates drops.

Well, actually I’ve never tried spinning plates, but when I’ve seen one of the entertainers who can do such a thing – I guess maybe it’s usually been a clown in a circus – it seems that it’s the momentum of the spin and the tilt and balance on the pole which keeps the plates moving. When they stop moving, they drop and roll away.

I don’t think I’m the only one to feel as if I’m spinning plates just now. Some of them I just can’t let drop. Like the lovely new granddaughter who I got to hold again today. Like taking time to pray and read and listen. That one takes a bit of effort to maintain momentum. It is so easily overlooked. Commitments to family. Skyping my mother every day. Writing commissions.

Then there is the nitty gritty of everyday life which I can’t let drop. The day job. The housework. The commitments to others through church and Bible study. The garden. The shopping. 

Then there are the projects I want to keep spinning. Creative writing projects. Cross-stitch. Reading interesting novels and books. Writing blogs. Learning a new language. Taking walks.

And in the midst of all the spinning plates, sometimes other clowns suddenly run out of the shadows and cast another one my way which I have no option but to try to catch on a pole and keep spinning. Visitors drop in. Neighbours need a hand. The telephone rings, or an email needs answering.

Come to me, Jesus said, if you’re tired and weary and fearful of dropping one of those spinning plates. I will refresh you and call time out.

Well, he doesn’t say it exactly like that, but that’s the gist. So I’m giving the plates to him and having a rest. Whew.