A Strange View of the People Around You

Listening is kind of like lawn bowling. There must be something to it because plenty of people seem to enjoy it. But at the same time (let’s be honest) there’s virtually nothing to the look of it which seems compelling in any way. People just simply don’t line up, drooling over the day when they finally get to breach the excitement of the lawn bowling yard. Neither, it seems, are there people lining up to listen.

Yet, the more I re-imagine what listening really is, the more I’m completely fascinated with all that it can lead to. Listening creates a life-bond which allows us to benefit from experiences we’ve never had. It’s a means of transferring wisdom and insight. It’s allows us to grow at a greater rate than would be possible just with your own thinking and living, alone. It’s also a vehicle of fascination: we could (perhaps) get so taken up in someone else’s story that we are taken out of our own. Who among us couldn’t use a well deserved break from the self-imposed burden of self-fascination?

With all that in mind, what is it that makes listening so banal? Could it be that we’re all addicted to the thrill of showcasing our lives (“Hey everyone – look at me – here’s an interesting thing about me – did I tell you about me, lately?”) There is something inherently gratifying about being the center of attention. But it’s gratifying in a candy-coated, junk-food-esque kind of way, and when are those kinds of thrills ever the path that leads to health and maturity?

I’ve been pounding these lessons deeper and deeper into my own thinking and living because for two reasons. First: I’m kind of young to be doing what I’m doing professionally. So I need to get wisdom and insight beyond my years and life experience. Listening is really handy for that – and I’ve found some great people to listen to.

The second reasons comes from a recent realization: if I were Christ and I wanted to reinforce the importance of relationships, other people, humility and doing life together, then I would embed unexpected successes on the other side of insights which could only be uncovered through honestly and genuinely listening to the people around us. In other words, I would string all our best possibilities like bread crumbs along the path of taking other people seriously. It’s kind of a like a treasure trail to a better life than you knew to ask for.

What if God wants to use the people around you to create unexpected success in you (if you’d only become a highly motivated listener)? What if He buried the insights you need to uncover greater possibilities in compelling conversation? What might happen if we found the courage to take each other that seriously? There’s no telling.

Something to consider…

Chris

Is It Really Impossible?

The following flows from a few thoughts found in the message from January 13, 2008. It’s available on our website (http://www.wkc.org/) or through itunes.

Sovereignty has been on my mind ever since I first felt a little ‘led down a blind alley’ two years ago. I can remember the frustration that came from feeling like I was (1) Supposedly in relationship with a God of endless love and wonder and who was (2) Watching me from a distance as I stood in the midst of a dead end surrounded on all sides by impossibility.

Circumstances are one of our favorite scapegoats. Our mind so easily thinks in terms of ‘if only’ (‘if only’ things were different). But we do not live in a perfect world and God is not negligent in understanding your circumstances and what they mean. Nor is He amused to see you spinning your wheels against an impossible situation.

All of this leaves you with an opportunity to consider some tough alternatives in your thinking. I’d suggest there are at least two: you can either doubt God or you can doubt yourself. Or, to say it another way: you either doubt your perspective or you doubt His goodness.

Consider: you can either decide you’re right about your circumstances, they are as impossible as they seem and this reflects poorly on God for either not loving you enough to give you a real chance or just simply not knowing how tough your situation really is (in other words, you doubt God). Or as an alternative, you can choose to believe He knows something more about you and your circumstances than you do and you just lack the ability to see it clearly (in other words, you doubt what you see and think).

You can even take all of this a step further and assume that your circumstances are the means for being fully alive. Why? Because He customized them to bring the absolute best out of you.

So here’s what I’m suggesting: why not try on a different set of assumptions about your circumstances? Try telling yourself this: “My circumstances are the ideal means for me to be fully alive and grow to my next step, otherwise God is either not real or not nice or both!”

Just a thought,

Chris

A Very Special Test

We’ve been focusing on Ancient Wisdom – trying to find the things that are so true they’ve never changed. Last week, we got into this bit about how real God is. Today’s mailing may be starting to look like a podcast promo, but you may want to have a listen. It’s in response to a conversation I find myself having at least once a week.

It goes something like this: if God is the only way to ‘real’ life here or here after, and He’s full of love and mercy, then why is He so hard to find (and sometimes to hold on to). The answer (which I took 40 minutes to pound through) is that God wants to be on the other side of love, not math. He wants to be a choice, not a logical conclusion. And I think He’d like to feel that you were at His side because you chose Him, not because you simply hated the alternative.

At the beginning of 1 Corinthians, Paul is writing about how the story of God can seem like foolishness on one side and powerful on the other. Notice how that contrast is a bit mismatched? Foolishness isn’t contrasted with wisdom or cleverness but simply just ‘power’. Maybe it’s because the challenge of finding God is supposed to be a test anyone can pass. That means it can’t be a test of intelligence or cleverness – but something else.

I firmly believe that’s one of the reasons why God waits for us on the other side of a choice that is not strictly rational. It’s some part mysterious, some part challenging and if you take Paul’s word for it, some part foolish. He’s put Himself on the other side of a test anyone can pass – and that means it’s about having just enough cause to look but maybe not so much that any of us are forced.

Just a thought.

I hope you have a great week.

Chris