Experience

There is nothing like experience to explain words and rhetoric.  It is easier to explain the premise in reverse logic.  Can you imagine lemonade without remembering the taste?  Does the word love have any tangible meaning outside of a hug, a look, or a kiss?  Is it possible to know what the word beautiful means absent of a sunset, the blossoming of a spring flower, or the smile of a child?  Everything changes shape and form with experience.  Words become three dimensional, thoughts become tangible, and ideas become reality. 
 
Knowing this connection should change everything.  Far too often in my life it doesn’t.  The gap isn’t new.  When the disciples heard of Jesus’ resurrection it was an idea without substance.  Even the initial sight of Jesus seemed to bring on a long pregnant moment of silence.  “Then he [Jesus] showed them his hands and side.  The disciples, seeing the Master with their own eyes, were exuberant.” (John 20.20)  The transformation changed the moment as well as the rest of their lives!  Everything became real.  Everything came to life.  Everything was possible.  Everything was, because of experience.
 
You and I put compassion, mercy, and being part of a family at the top of the values and priorities we hold closest to our hearts.  For far too many people the words are empty metaphors they hear about but have never known.  It isn’t their fault they haven’t had the experience.  It isn’t their responsibility to “know” what these words, principles, and concepts mean.  It is their choice to accept the gifts offered to them by the community.
 
This is where our part comes in.  We who know can share, model, and offer the experience to those around us.  We can make a real difference.  We have the opportunity to touch lives in ways that will always be part of their journey.  The only catch is one of our decision – will we share what we have received from others and Divinity?  Are we willing to be part of the experience of others?  We can.  God willing, today I will.