Bad Ideas

Ideas have a life of their own.  Good ones live on, almost as if they’re timeless, fitting into life of every age.  Bad ideas come and go.  Often they thrive robustly, propelled by emotions beyond anyone’s comprehension.  In the midst of their crescendo it is hard to believe they could ever be proven anything other than true truth.  Yet bad ideas never stand the test of time, light, and the presence of community.  It is as if “we” know the truth, if only with time.
 
A man of old once observed that “the dead don't talk, ghosts don't walk, because you've [God] said, ‘enough, that's all for you,’ and wiped them off the books.”  (Isaiah 26.14)  While I know from experience this is true, I often find myself fighting battles against the darkness which haunts your soul and mine.
 
Life has been a battle for a long time.  While I might wish otherwise, I suspect the battle will continue longer than anyone thinks possible.  I find myself longing for truth yet nurturing something less so.  I can sense and feel the thirst for God’s presence, even as I run from it.  In the darkness of the nights, the fight rages on.  Even as God lives within, I choose to give refuge to ideas which work to end the Presence. 
 
Today I choose to grasp God with my heart, soul, and mind.  I commit myself to the values and principles I hold most true.  In the darkness I see the Light, I sense the Presence, and I experience Divinity’s community.  Bad ideas are still floating, half dead, while truth lives eternal.  I choose life, God, and community.  It is an opportunity to realize an incredible reality in the present.
 
In my choice I find the following principles are part of the foundation.
 
            Being intentional is always better reacting.  Reacting is a response reserved for special opportunities.
 
            Talking about ideas, challenging assumptions, exploring the possible are great ways to hear God’s voice.  Being stuck in yesterday’s window isn’t a good thing.
 
            Community is the heart of God.