“If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten…”
(Rudyard Kipling)
“Why do You think the old stories tell of men who set out on great journeys to impress the gods? Because trying to impress people just isn't worth the time & effort...”
(Henry Rollins)
“People have forgotten how to tell a story. Stories don't have a middle or an end any more. They usually have a beginning that just never stops beginning…”
(Steven Spielberg)
“i wanted a perfect ending. Now i've learned — the hard way — that some poems don't rhyme and some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle, & end...”
(Gilda Radner)
“People create stories create people; or rather stories create people create stories...”
(Chinua Achebe)
“People don't want their Lives fixed. Nobody wants their problems solved. Their dramas, their distractions, their stories resolved — their messes cleaned up. Because what would they have left? Just the big scary unknown...”
(Chuck Palahniuk)
“Some stories are True that never happened...”
(Elie Wiesel)
Recently, i spent time with a friend. She is an amazing person: intelligent, fun, easy to be around, and loyal (among many other good qualities). Some people around her notice these traits and appreciate her. Many do not. What a shame — for them i mean....
Due to her trustworthiness & competency, she is always being identified in any work environment as someone to be entrusted with responsibility, and her relational posture of not judging, engaging with people in the moment, & injecting genuine laughter into her interpersonal interactions wins her much relational equity with her colleagues. Her devotion to her children — like most mothers — makes the natural move toward symbiosity hard on everyone because of the friction between the natural growth pattern and need for a child to mature into interdependence and yet want to stay dependent. Her friends need her, because they — like everyone — need someone to care about them, and they don’t find people like her very often….
As we conversed, she talked to me about her feelings of being “disposable” and the struggle she has had all her Life with fearing “being replaced.” She deals — like most of us — with the tension of knowing that we are inherently valuable and yet receiving from others not only a lack of validation and support and affirmation but — worse — the opposite. In case You haven’t heard this before, psychologists say that it takes about 100 positive “deposits” into our “emotional bank account” to counteract every one (single) negative “withdrawal.” Astounding, but very understandable — at least to me….
Due to the conditioning of the spiritual government ruling this world and the force of the funneling involved in the torque of the systems which that government has entrenched (financial, medical, legal, educational, etc.) into the fabric of the creation, people are not usually kind to one another. Instead of speaking grace, we tend to speak judgment. We are inclined to gossip instead of give the benefit of the doubt…to step on others to excel or advance instead of stepping aside to make way for others and curry good favor…to condemn instead of extend mercy…to assail instead of defend…to ignore rather than invest…to be selfish instead of selfless…to hurt rather than to heal. That is the way of humanity in the vortex of this world with its fallen disposition and lack of clear vision of divinity and decided deficit of hope. It’s always amazed me that the suicide rate isn’t over 50%, but i know that the only reason it is not higher is not because of any healthy or laudable pursuit but rather because most people are just either too greedy or too vain to extinguish their own existence…
For my friend, i wished that i could just reach into her soul and inject a vial of healthy self-talk and a rationless supply of encouragement and a positive made-in-the-image-of-God self-portrait that would serve as parts of a boundary like a foundation, pillars, and bricks to keep out both the decay & rust that comes with the natural course of being aLive as well as the predators that actively seek to end our Lives prematurely. Alas, i cannot just flip switches like that, but i wish every day that i could…
Today’s Theology topic is uniqueness, and it’s one of the most important topics of which i know. The Scripture declares, “For God so Loved the world that He gave His unique & one-of-a-kind son…”. The problem with that Scripture is that we think that description only applied to Y’shua, when — in fact — it applies to each human being. That is not any diminishing of the uniqueness of LORD Y’shua — it is a recalibration of our perceptions of one another…
There is so much in our culture that degrades us, defeats us, diminishes us, desensitizes us, destroys us, and so precious little that uplifts us, exhorts us, encourages us, validates us, endorses us. That is not an accident — it is by design. It is not the original design, and it is not the intended design, but — make no mistake about it — it is by a sinister counter-design. Given that opposition that contends with us every minute of every day, one might be tempted to think that we would take up each other’s cause and come to the aid of those around us. However, our own preoccupation with the war at our own doorstep as well as our pride to think whatever well-manicured lawn we might have to be immune from dog shit and our own selfishness that argues incessantly to us “just don’t get involved” render us normally unwilling and sometimes incapable of assisting others — much less rescuing them….
At the heart of this lack of body-cellular behavior is a lack of understanding our inherent uniquity (my term for “uniqueness,” because 1) i like it better and 2) i like the way it counters the term “iniquity,” which is not under discussion here but lurks in the shadows of this discussion). We are each made in the image of the Creator, and He creates us — not like Frankenstein created his monster with a sinister knowledge, an ethical lapse, and a hope come True — but rather perfectly. Sure, we have blind spots and deficits and holes, but those are not mistakes — they are signals to us of our personal limits and our needs for our Creator and His other creations. And yet, each of us is different, and we each have a particular disposition and personality and natural talent set and call and destiny. Essentially, we are stories — stories being written that are waiting to be read….
So, who are You reading lately? Whose story is engrossing You?
Here’s a part of the problem (as i see it) that You can solve: We don't typically pay any attention to either our own stories or the stories of the people around us. We miss the sweeping arcs of the narrative trajectories and the great themes and the nuanced subplots and the character development and the scene Lighting and the cinematography and the symbols and the set design. Change that! Think of being engaged in the Lives of those people within Your purview as Your "Required Reading" assignment. Even better: Don’t read their stories — watch their movies.
Those people around You aren’t there by accident, either. You’re not in the city You’re in by random molecular occurrence. You don’t Live in the time in which You exist due to “fate” or some other inanimate force. You don’t have the limits or the extents You possess in Your person due to some chaotic cosmic roulette. No. Rabbi Paul said, “In [our Creator], we Live and move and have our being…,” and he taught that the Creator determines our habitations and boundaries and epochs. You are not a chance happening, and You are certainly not an accident — and You are most definitely not a mistake. You are a creation designed by a Master Artist with a purpose that is eternal and a usefulness that is profound and You fill a need that only You can fill….
Rabbi Paul teaches us that when one of our Body (of the Messiah, Y’shua Christos) rejoices, all of us should rejoice, but he also instructs that when one of us suffers, we all suffer. It doesn’t matter whether or not we admit that we are suffering or if we’re aware of our suffering or if we embrace our suffering — those issues and many others are beside the point. The Truth is that when one of us suffers, we all suffer. When one of us is diminished, we are all diminished. When one of us is hurt, we are all affected. That is the nature of a body, but it is not the nature of a community. Often in a community, one person’s demise means another person’s rise. That is why we are called a “body” and not a community, because we are fundamentally bound to one another in ways that are inexplicable in temporal and earthly language….
In the movie Avatar, they have a saying: “i see You….” It is the way they acknowledge one another in a substantial, impactful way. Who do You see? Hagar cried out in the desert upon her rescue, “i have seen the God Who sees me!” The LORD Y’shua talked about us having “eyes to see.” Faith is defined partially as the “evidence of things not seen.” What movie are You watching? Whose Life are You seeing?
And are You rooting for them? Are You booing when the bad guys appear and standing up to throw popcorn at the screen while You sneer? Are You crying when the hero You’re watching gets hurt, because You share in their loss? Are You cheering when they overcome and high-fiving the friends around You? What’s the reaction from the Great Cloud of Witnesses? Were You even aware that other saints are watching the movie with You?
How’s the movie of Your daughter’s Life progressing or Your friend’s story unfolding or any one of the ones in Your circle of grace & sphere of influence developing? What’s happening to them? How are they doing? Are they making it? Barely You say…You don’t know — haven’t kept up with them…they were “fine” the last time You checked. Really? Really? Is that good enough for You? Is that what You hope for from the people destined to share space & time with You?
Years ago, i learned from my Master that the middle of a story is necessary, but it hardly seems necessary when You can read the whole story from beginning to end. The secret is to engage with the whole story at whatever point in it You find Yourself. If You fail to engage with the conflict because You know the ending (whether good or bad), then You cheat Yourself of the richness of the experience. That goes for the stories of others, too — not just Your own story….
Today, don't grow cold or calloused or indifferent or apathetic. Lighthouses covered in ice don't tend to do jack. Instead, lean in to the Holy Spirit and let Him show You the uniqueness of Your own ChristLife, but know that You won’t be able to survive the assault on Your identity on Your own. You’ll need the help of others to move from survival to flourishing. So, more than You pay attention to Your own uniquity, pay attention to the uniquity of others — and then be their buoy. It might just end up changing Your experience….
Rabbi Paul told his friends, “…whatever is True, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is Lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, then think about such things. Whatever You have learned or received or heard from me — or seen in me — put it into practice, and the God of peace will be with You...”.
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