Can We Talk?

Good morning, friends and family.

Due to personal and spiritual reasons, I took a self-initiated week off of social media. I know it’s no big deal to the general public as everyone seems to be doing that for one reason or another. I did hear from some of you who were still reading Mirror Time and wondering what the next article would be about. For many of you, it’s your primary means of connection with me so leaving you, albeit briefly, was a sacrifice that cost me something. However, it was personally and spiritually ground breaking to say the least.

But in this moment, as I reach back out into a world that is not always so pleasant to ask you one question. Can we talk?

See, we can text and email and we can nosh at local functions or whisper at the water cooler. But I want to know can we talk. I mean, honestly and fruitfully, have a dialogue because if anything is a dying art, it’s that. While we watch all the other decaying things in our eye line, we are missing that essential key to our humanity. That communication is part of what makes us human. It is what makes us essential. Every creature made has its own form of interaction and communication, even if it’s a language we don’t understand. But it’s clear ours is blocked by innovation, technology, social media constructs, raw emotions, and an unwillingness to listen rather than being heard.

We have petulant children in positions of authority and influence making headlines and disregarding the details. We have broken toys vying for attention in places that can only truly give them a temporary reprieve from their pain. We have segments and puzzle pieces but no substantial big pictures and no sustained drive to attain them. We’re living in a moment and not even doing that well. Actually, we’re missing the moment entirely. We are only given so many opportunities to be relevant and to “change the world”. Generally, we shake our heads at it, grumble and complain about it, or get depressed enough to try to hide ourselves from it.

One of my all time favorite passages is in Romans 12:1-2.

“Therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.”

The Apostle Paul (and author of this book) started this passage with the word “therefore”, which indicates that there was a case being made prior to this in the latter part of the 11th Chapter of Romans. This is his summation. “Therefore”, he starts. “Because of the mercies that God has already shown us”, he adds. “Present your bodies as a living sacrifice”.

Sacrifice often has a negative connotation but this is good and I’ll tell you why. The gifts that mean the most are the ones that someone gives to you at great cost. A dead sacrifice doesn’t have a free willed choice. The one who offers that sacrifice is the only one that gains. With a living sacrifice, the sacrifice has the ability to exhibit his or her free will, sense of personal power, and influence and crawl away from the altar. The incredible nature of this act is when the sacrifice remains on the altar by his or her own choice. In this case, the sacrifice that remains on the altar until the process is finished is the one who gains.

The term “present” has a military connotation in its use here. It is the same way a soldier would present himself before a commanding officer at the start of his tour. He would ready himself, shine his shoes, clean his belt buckle, be garbed in the proper attire with shirt buttoned and hat squarely worn, and standing at attention, awaiting his orders for the day. PRESENT! We are supposed to start the day, looking like our best selves, even when we struggle with life and we feel weary. We are supposed to recognize that going into the fields without our commanding officer’s orders is out of order and puts us in jeopardy. We are supposed to be willing to let the potter put us back onto the wheel and cut away the misshapen parts of us so we can reflect the image of Him originally designed. We seem unwilling to submit ourselves long enough to the Process. Sometimes we’re stuck in the “land of inconsequentials”, doing stuff that really doesn’t matter in the big scheme of things.

I think religion has lulled us into a false sense of security and we think a few nice words and some penance are enough to fulfill us. This has never proven true. We were once in the garden with Him in the cool of the day, in sweet, untainted relationship. Now we have to trust Him to restore us back to what He still wants today: sweet, untainted relationship. We have to allow Him to cut away the dead, unfruitful things. We have to allow His light to guide us in dark places even when we think a flashlight is more practical. We have to allow Him to be Lord when we think our way is better and faster for us. It’s a daily process we take for granted. We have to rise higher. I don’t mean elitism or status seeking of any kind. I mean accepting the gradual process of a changed mind and a changed heart. “Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.”

It hit me this past week that I will not always have the privilege to be a voice in my circle of influence and write articles, and send encouraging tweets and FB posts. Tomorrow is not promised. Hopefully this article impacted you in the key areas shared today. Talk back to me and tell me what you’re hearing and gleaning from this article. Share with us what you’ve been needing to see in your life but hadn’t seen yet. If you could change one present situation about yourself, what would that be? Where do you think that change will take you personally? Was there an “a-ha” moment for you? Did this article help you see your current trajectory differently? Or do you think everything is fine just the way it is and there’s no need to change anything? We can talk about that too. I just sincerely hope we can talk….