Some days I weary of having a point of view. All truth, even undeniable, indisputable, universal truth is filtered through our perspectives, shaped by experience, knowledge, language, and understanding over a lifetime.

I can change my vantage and expand my view,
but I haven't figured out how to
    -unknow what I know,
    -unsee what I see,
    -unhear what I hear,

… or unshackle myself from the compulsion to cry out and invite others to know, see, hear, think.

So I comment, cry out, question probe, agitate, irritate, and think out loud for myself, for others, for what I sense is the call of God, and for truth to broaden my own understanding and those of others for the core principles I embrace and the sometimes subtle truths that refine them.

Yet – there are times I long for a vacation from thinking and knowing.
    Times, I say, some, I say.
    Not all, not often, not for long.
    I do not enjoy having points of view – not always.
    I just do and everyone is entitled to my opinion …

But I will tell you this:
If we ever stop laughing at ourselves,
we are in deep, deep trouble.

So, pause, breathe, laugh, and then, resume the struggle.

Why am I so preoccupied with the injustices I see?

Blame it on the stories I've deeply heard.

First, the big story/stories in the Bible.

Then the stories you have told me & I have heard, received, and lived with you in the telling.

God and you and God in you passed on the pain.

Once we have heard, seen, or felt something through the eyes, ears, perspective, and pain of another, we cannot return to our own, old biased perspective. We cannot unknow what we have come to know.

Not withstanding the positive theme of the great spiritual classic, in the real world, there are things we cannot "unknow" that thrust upon us a higher level of responsibility and calling.

The gift of empathy is something of a curse, but the curse is a great gift.

I would rather live under the burden of the curse than reject the gift and the promise …

A better day is coming

I love scripture.
I love rubbing alcohol.
Both give off an aroma.
Both can sting when applied.
Both can purify and heal.

And if we apply scripture in the right or wrong places, like rubbing alcohol, it might not hurt at all or it might hurt too much. Like anything, it must be applied with wisdom, truth, understanding, and compassion — the way God does.

All of these loose reflections coming together, remind me to keep one eye on the Bible, one on the world, and that inner eye of the soul, focused on Jesus.

It is then, that pain and pleasure come together in a purposeful joy of living and a pliable point of view emerges to embrace truth whatever it might be — and to act upon it, however we are called.