Not long ago, a Facebook friend put up a post that made no sense at all. The letters were out of place, forming few coherent words. Frankly, I wondered if he’d had a stroke. Nothing so dire, thankfully. Another friend gently tweaked him, “Sean, hands on the home keys.” That was it. He had just began typing, and neither checked his positioning nor did he go back and edit what he wrote.
Back at Millikan High School in Long Beach, for my one semester of typing I had Mr. Carter, a tall, spare man who reminded me of a crane. Man, his fingers could fly over the keyboard! And to start each exercise or test, he’d intone, “Hands on the home keys, children. Ready, begin.” Yeah, you know the word that annoyed us, but Mr. Carter not only taught typing, but a vital life lesson.
“Hands on the home keys” works. Whenever we get off track, whenever we get jarred, whenever we lose our way, whenever we drift, what home keys do we return to? Or do we just continue to wander, somewhat adrift? Or do we intentionally try to return to our foundation?
But how firm might our foundation be? Here are some tips: first, establish some core values, ones that transcend our current culture that continually changes. God has some advice, “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17, NLT). For followers of Jesus, this forms the first facet, but let’s go deeper.
We also need to know our essential identity, who we are, what we’re good at, what we’re not. Some of my biggest issues came from trying to do what I wasn’t built to do. Know our personality, our gifts, our talents, our experiences good and bad as part of our foundation.
But let’s look for false foundations. If we return to these home keys, we type like Sean. Tradition—the way we’ve done it may not work for new situations. I like what Jesus said, “You have heard it said…but I say to you…” He didn’t stick with traditions. Politics—no party has absolute truth, and if we unthinkingly accept all their positions, we can hurt ourselves. Peer and societal pressure—friends and culture overtly or covertly push us, but let’s choose to let God do that. “Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould, but let God remould your minds from within” (Romans 12:2, Phillips).
We all get sideways at time, expect that. Just return to the home keys that God has given us.
Kick Starting the Application
What are your spiritual home keys? Do you consciously have some? If not, why? Are your home keys able to give a firm foundation? Think of a time you went sideways, how long did it take to get back? Why? Are you facing a situation now where you need to return to your home keys?