Questions at Hand

If there was a single key I could give to someone along life’s path, it would be the knowledge and ability to ask “the” question.  The question is the one we rarely think about yet in asking it changes everything. 
 
I have a good friend who is has and does play a key role in my life, because he can ask the question.  As I share a plan, course of action, or analysis, I find him quietly listening and reflecting.  I know what is coming.  First is a positive statement of faith and confidence.  He understands my heart and affirms his belief in my intent.  He also has a question for reflection.  Inevitably, it is a question I had not considered, could not imagine, would most likely would never pose.  As I reflect, I realize how the question was something more than a series of words requiring an answer.  The question opened my thoughts to new ideas.  The question awakened a wonder to the possible.  The question challenges me to be more than I am.  The question is priceless.
 
Life is full of conundrums, difficult situations, and intense experiences.  On a good day, there is a wave of peace and assurance resting on your soul and mine.  We also have days when the gray, gloomy, drizzly stuff of life overwhelms.  Both are real.  Both happen on a regular basis, often mixed together in the course of our waking hours.  In this context, asking the tough questions is priceless.  Yesterday’s answers are not the automatic solution to the moment at hand.  We don’t need to repeat our past mistakes.  Everything is possible, assuming one is open to the possibility of something new or at least different.
 
As I walk, a question that travels with me opens me up to the possible.  Hope wonders, “who do you think you've been mocking and reviling all these years?  Who do you think you've been jeering and treating with such utter contempt all these years?  The Holy of Israel!”  (Isaiah 37.23)  Do I know this God?  Am I willing?