June 11, 2014
Taking the Words
For many years I,
along with eight others, have served on a credentials committee for the
elections of a utility company. Sometime back one woman left the group and
another took her place. As the
chairperson either I, or the structure in place for the election, has always
rubbed the replacement wrong. Weary of her sarcasm, I opened the door for
someone else to step into the role as chair, but the group asked me to
continue. Attempts to ignore or sidestep
the bombs and darts thrown my way have been unsuccessfully, so this year I specifically
prayed for the right words to address the problem. Before I could begin my spiel
this foe interrupted me and acknowledged that she and I didn’t always do things
the same way. She laughed, “But this year I’m going to be try to good and do it
your way!” The Lord literally took the scripted words right out of my mouth and
all I needed to say was thank you. “This is what we speak, not in words taught
us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual
truths in spiritual words” (1Cor 2:13 NIV).
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1 comment:
Gail;
-----Truth lies in simplicity. I think it is one of those nature things which Paul said evidences God (Rom 1:20). But we so overlay simplicity with many agendas, desires, and inclinations that the process of simplifying is complicated. Some folks “know” enough that reality escapes them as certainly as it escapes those who know too little. Reality is the core of truth (since Jesus is the essence of reality.) It can’t be let to escape.
-----The edge of the visual field is enlightening. Choose a point and fix your eyes upon it. Extend an arm to your side and backward far enough to vanish from your vision. Bend your fingers forward and wiggle them while moving your arm forward until you can first just perceive your wiggling fingers. There is the edge of your visual field. Map it all around. Notice that, of the globe that is the environment surrounding you, less than 50% falls inside your visual field. But also notice you do not perceive this non-visual field to be darkness as much as an awareness of yourself and the images by which you deal with what you see. Notice a part of this imagery is an awareness of what you know to be outside your visual field. The field's boundary separates certainty of sight from perception of mind, delineating hard actuality from what desires, agendas, biases, hopes, fears, etc. can modify.
-----Now let’s do a thought experiment. Put on a blindfold and ear muffs. Step into a stranger’s car; you’re going for a ride. (Did I see the hairs stir a little on the back of your neck? Too bad. This experiment is revealing.) We ride for at least a couple hours. Upon stopping, you get out still blindfolded without a clue of where you are. Your mind knows of a car behind you, and your feet can feel ground under you. The stranger leads you away for a spell, then backs you up a couple precisely measured steps. Taking the blindfold off with eyes fixed forward half-fills the mind with a new reality. Is there an unease about what‘s behind you? How limited has your actual knowledge become? How much of the entire world really lies outside your visual field? How much future do you actually see? How much of what you know about the world and future has been modified by your ambitions, agendas, biases, etc.? (How much by God’s Word?) So, how much, as an individual, do you really know about all of the parts and pieces interacting with any situation beckoning from you a decision? Should we be a bit precautious because perceptions play upon knowledge?
-----”Without counsel plans go wrong, but with many advisers they succeed.” (Prov 15:22) Paul does not bid us to agree with one, or with some other, but with one another. In this should be an humility towards the possibility that inside even the most annoying of us might be a clue for bettering our next decision.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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