Posts
Countless
people are on an endless quest for meaning. Their search takes them to places
they never thought they would be and do things they never thought they would do. This
might describe some of our lives in the past or maybe even today. While some of
our experiences can bring temporal satisfaction they never seem to last.
Without a
deep sense of purpose our lives can be like experiments searching for that
elusive thing, experience or person. Unknowingly, we can get so easily absorbed
into today’s cultural definitions of success and personal realization that we
just might find we’re living lives that could be described as…
The Lonely
life
Unprecedented
access to social networking has not taken loneliness away. Loneliness is no
stranger to socially connected people.
Feeling alone has never been more epidemic.
Feeling alone has never been more epidemic.
We long to
know and be known, but our fears and habits make it difficult to give or we
feel vulnerable to injury in relationships and we often keep our stories of
struggle or confusion to ourselves.
We’re
afraid of getting close. We choose proximity without intimacy. Our hearts are
heavy and alone.
The
Imposter’s life
Appearance
is more important than substance. What matters most is what we appear to be.
Sadly, we doubt that much beyond appearance can be found anyway. It’s “all
good,” I don’t need to know about your problems, distractions or complications.
It’s Margarita-ville, don’t you get it?
As Mark
Labberton said, “The imposter’s life is simply not full of pretense; it
allows someone to think about us the way they want without actually disclosing
who we really are. Since “it’s all good” there’s nothing to worry
about.”
The Consumer’s Life
Life isn’t
about who you are but about what you have, because what you have tells you who
you are. Google knows that what we pursue as consumers, of culture, of goods,
of experience, and taste and the things that feed our consumption increases our
desire for still more.
The
Fearful Life
Real and
imagined dangers exist all around is. We can be paranoid or obsessive. Fear can
be tamed, but is readily accessed with the right triggers of getting it wrong,
not being seen, being hurt, experiencing violence, losing control, failing,
getting over- looked, doing damage, causing pain, misspeaking…
Begin
Where You Are
We may be
privileged or deprived, but living with these kinds of patterns sets the
trajectory for our lives. We can live much better lives. How can things be
different? As Bob Dylan, said, “it may be the devil or it may be the
Lord, but no matter who you are, you’re gonna have to serve somebody.”
Jesus says
to all His followers, “Follow me.” If we want to truly follow Him we need to
start where we are, not where we’d like to be, whether it’s at work, home or in
our neighborhoods.
Following
Jesus starts here. It starts with learning to see the people that we regularly
see in a different light, as made and loved by God, that because they matter to
God they matter to you and me.
When we
truly see others as God sees them we can love our neighbors as ourselves. And
when we do we will whine less about the world. Do you want your life to be more
of an adventure rather than the mundane lives most people live? Are you ready
to dive in? Are you ready for some fun and sacrifice? You won’t regret it
and God will be pleased.
