First, my apologies for the unfulfilled promise in my previous entry of videos capturing entertaining and laughable moments from the weekend retreat. Any depiction of the combination of a moon bounce and middle schoolers really must be shared with others, and I’m disappointed my posting and reposting on Monday proved inevitably fruitless.
Some of you saw a large blank expanse under the first few pictures while others might have noticed pixilated and warped versions of the original videos. My sister claims they uploaded on her computer and of course, they appear as such when I review the post from the back end. Frustrating! I laugh at myself as I utter that word, because I am well aware this is THE DEFINITION of Not a Big Deal. Still, it reminds me of a card trick that keeps me stumped while the “magician” smugly smiles, knowing the simple secret in full. I can almost visualize the arrogant smile on the face of the little gremlin inside of my blogger account.
I cannot understand the problem, nor can I see the issue, and so it frustrates me because I can’t do anything about it. I am reminded of a battle I thought myself to have conquered in 2009 during my Brussels tenure, the battle to find contentment in being rather than only in doing. It appears a little more discovery and work remains for this busybody in that area.
The mysteriously warped and disappearing videos visible to some and not to others also translate to the communication God initiates with us. Certainly user error is not responsible in this case, but doesn’t the same thing essentially happen? The message is sent out, but our unfamiliarity with the sender, our crazed and busy days, or our personal hurts and prejudices cause the message to be warped upon receipt or disappear from our radar all together.
What obstacles keep us from hearing God? Is it our environment? More often, it’s the environment in our hearts. The shallow path of our discipleship, the rocky heart absent of emotion, the thorns of our bitterness. All these inflict more costly ramifications than the little gremlin that stole my videos. So once you identify and understand the barriers blocking or warping God’s message(s), how do you climb over them and listen to God?
No, it’s not a rhetorical question. I love hearing from others on this subject: How do you listen to God?
Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold. Mark 4:3-8.
No comments:
Post a Comment