Thursday, September 28, 2017

How does God handle knowing too much?

 So I know too much. About a certain situation, I have way too much information. It's alarming, scary, hurtful but most of all I want to help. I see so many gaps, and there is nothing I can do. I ask, I try to point out little things and encourage to see the bigger things and it's met with not simply answers that are truthful but defensiveness. Defensiveness which  basically proves that something isn't right.  We seldom get upset over things that are just lying on the ground, but when the things lying on the ground are tripping us, we kick at them. The simple solution would be to pick them up but in our humanness, we simply kick at them when they annoy us. Truth would acknowledge that there is something there, move it or pick it up. Pretending there is nothing there only deludes us more.  I want to help others pick up their stuff... Move it! However, when others don't accept that there is something on the ground, I cannot change their perception of that truth.

How does God handle knowing all about us and not wanting to slap us upside the head? How does he simply let us make a fool of ourselves and not step in and say "Wait a minute"?  When we are praying to Him and talking, how does he not keep asking the questions so we tell the truth? How does he let us be surface and not pull his hair out; of course assuming he would have hair.  Its frustrating to know there are better answers and to not be allowed to even ask the questions. It's hard to watch someone struggle because of what others have done to them and they don't even see it.
So I know too much- and because knowledge isn't everything, it's frustrating. I cannot change the perception of others. I was told that truth is based on perception. I always thought truth is based on the facts as presented not as someone thinks they are. We have facts. We have our human desires. Sometimes those two things collide in the middle in a violent hurricane. If I want to believe the color of the stop sign is green, I have the option in life to believe that. That doesn't make a red stop sign become green it simply means I have the choice to not accept the color as it is.
So how does God watch us go through life knowing and not cry out?  How does God allow people to hurt others, lie, steal, and not step in and want to make it right? How does he sit by and watch others mess up their lives and not want to step in and help? How does he allow us to make poor decision after poor decision and not want to wash his hands and walk away? And, how does he continue to love when the hurt and the frustration feel like a ton of bricks on ones heart?
I have lots of questions for God.


Saturday, September 2, 2017

Hope.....when the heart is lonely

I hope for many things. I hope the weather is good for the picnic. I hope we Ave a fun time with family. I hope I get my shopping list done. I hope, or anticipate, many times during the day. We hope because it gives us just s spark in th heart to take the next step. If we had no hope, we would stay in bed...or keep eating chocolate and black coffe trying to deal with our disappointment. Hope gives us an edge on our day. Hope...well it's one of the three things we read about in 1 Corinthians 13.   Faith, hope and love.  Why is hope in the middle? Why isn't it hope, faith and love. Or love, faith and hope?  The definition of hope is the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best.  So this week I went out on a limb and became hope. Not me, giving hope, but letting a friendship of many years take priority and be hope. What does hope look like? Love to or talking, playing with dogs, walking at a garden, looking at a dam, riding a chairlift up on top of a ski hill, make that plural, eating simple cheese and crackers in a parking lot, laughing and talking, tacos and meeting other people's friends, laughing a bit more, eating burgers at a cool place, hanging out at cool scenic places and letting a 90 year old man walk down memory lane and listen.  For so many of us just a simple smile and time spent with people to just be together is hope. Spending time with others helping their life just a bit better for the day. Giving the, hope that a smile and time means love. Hope that the faith we possess together gives us that love we all all crave. 
For me, it was a week out of my normal life, a plane ticket, a rental car, different beds, several tanks of gas and a ton of pictures.  What I got was tears. That's not the usual response to giving hope, but when hope moves the heart, one often gets tears. I drove away from Washington with a few tears and a praying still ringing in my ears. I left Portland with a lot of laughter, good meals together and a few crazy little adventures... what a way to live life...and feel hope that we serve a God who loves us and gives us hope but let's us be hope and feel hope through the love of others.