In my inbox are several unanswered emails. Each is critical. Yet there is one that I find myself going back to in particular. The tone of this email is different. It is unique. Like many others, there is a question and query. What makes this one stand out is the personal candor that I find within it. Without using the phrase “Now, let me ask you something profound yet troubling,” (1 Corinthians 15.12), the phrase is used and left for me to answer.
As I think through my response, I am struck by the value I place on the dialogue. When one is in a candid conversation, the agenda is clear. There is little ambiguity. The questions are not confusing. Both sides know what the other is saying. Each is engaged.
There are not that many conversations in my life that I can label with this description. When I think of the ones that do, to a friend in England, to a few in Singapore, and others, each is in its own way priceless! I need individuals in my life who are able to candidly care. Their candid moments are priceless gifts that pull me towards wisdom and truth. I do not always want to hear them, yet I know I need to. I do not always have an answer, yet I know the struggle to find one is at the heart of living.
I find that life is more about living the moment at hand than it is about winning or arriving. In our best moments, we know and can tell others of our hopes and dreams. As important as these are, it is in our actions of the quiet moments that we show the truth that is within our hearts. It is in these moments that we live.
The candor of others connects the moments of my life with a greater story. My story is part of our story. Our hopes are pieces of where we want to be and go. The story’s glue includes the honest conversations we are willing share with others.
