Know this, my
beloved kin: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger;
for the anger
of man does not produce the righteousness of God. ―James 1:19-20
I have been
wondering why you, Lord gave this old guy the motivation and the endurance to
take on a massive house renovation project during the summer months. I know
there is a financial issue, that’s the simple one―much less costly to do it
myself. And I am grateful I have the necessary abilities and resources. I have
you, some very dedicated friends and skills passed down over the years to me by
my father and other craftsmen to thank for that. Still, there has been
something else―that persistent whispering in the back of my mind―Your Spirit. I
know well its cadence and the difference of His character as compared to the
other mumblings in my psyche―encouraging me forward on this project. What is it
that makes this so pressing in the “now”?
I understand
that the answer is always more complex with You than just one purpose. Your
shaping in my life, Your causing of circumstances, always points to a greater
design for me and for Your creation-community to which I am interwoven. I know
that as we prepare for our trip next May back to Israel, You have been
compelling me to get “my house” in order. I had been thinking this meant
financial order and also organizing the many coordinated workings of such a
trip. But could it also mean I need some additional internal Spiritual
house-ordering? Of course, but what does that really mean? What new seed have
You been trying so diligently to plant into my soil?
As I sweat and
toil, I’m reminded of how You seem to best reach me; while I am fully engaged
in some challenging exertion, whether physical or mental. It is in those
moments of high focus that you till and prepare me for the fruit you desire to
be borne out. And so it is proven out once more.
I have been
thinking a lot about the post-modern era in which I now exist―a place where
opinion does not often relate to a greater proven truth, especially Your
greater Truth. Now our philosophies and ideologies have become the highborn
product of the individual’s self-centered relativism. We appear only concerned
with the cause of the moment―social, environmental or political―rather than the
impact of our actions upon others. My cause over other’s cause, over Your
cause, Lord? What has happened to us and what is the alternative?
Over the years
I have learned a lot about listening. Not only how difficult true listening is,
but also how challenging it is not to “agendize” what I learn in the listening
process. I have the tendency to cleverly re-define the humble sharing of
someone else’s shared story by twisting their words to fit my narrative. We all
do it. A friend who insists that he only desires to hear another’s origins
without biased, let drop his conviction that he believes there is no hell.
Fine, I heard his statement without comment…yet, he interjected, “who in the
world would believe in such a place?”
And by his
statement, innocent or otherwise, he had disparaged a critical component of my
origin-story, even though he had listened many times to my personal history―my
journey in discovery of a need for a Redeemer to save me from being consumed by
the trappings of a fallen world.
Like my friend,
I believe I’ve gotten better at listening and observing, but still I struggle
with outcome based listening rather than truly meeting people where they are,
learning to accurately feed-back the foundational substance of a person’s biography,
sharing my personal experience only when asked to and only when the other
participant is also prepared to listen in like manner―sincerely wanting to
learn of the other’s shaping rather that shape the other’s learning.
Naïve, Lord?
Can I possibly meet someone where they are, not where I want them to be; listen
without forming an opinion or response while still in the act of listening?
Sure, I understand. Such an exercise is the beginning of relationship. Our
stories do not stop until our last breath, nor are the stories only individual.
The moment two encounter one another, You are already creating a new path for
them to walk together. But I am prone to dismiss the first part of the
encounter, thinking the second part is more important. I keep forgetting that
the second part, a growing trust relationship, cannot happen without first, the
willingness to be vulnerable with another human being. 
And that begs
the real question regarding how you are preparing me for redemption? Can it be
that You desire I, and my fellow human beings to learn first the origins of
redemption in Your story? If I fail to listen to how You came to create us for
love, only to have us regularly reject that love; if I refuse to hear Your
calling for me to love others as You love us; if I cannot accept the flaw of my
own rebellion―counting my will as supreme over Yours; than where is the hope
for a better world condition? Certainly not in the continued popular culture
initiatives we humans contrive.
What proof of
the collapse of listening fundamentals do I have? Lord the headlines of the
world tell it all.
I look at my
own house redemption project, differently now. As I struggle to refurbish, cleanup
and create a better foundation for the homestead with which You have blessed
me, I now am also trying to view each board, screw, and joint as a metaphorical
example of how my relationships with You and Your children also demand the same
care and attention. Hmm, perhaps I’m being prepared for some new housebuilding,
in the form of listening to Your story, through Your childrens’ stories here in
my community as well as in the land of Your chosen people.]
Help me Lord to
be practiced to the task, whatever that might be. Let me respond by quieting my
own noisy opinionated will and cause me to hear Your will correctly, by
reflecting Your redemptive desire for relationship with others.
Shema
Mark C.
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