Sides

The contrast in how one experiences, views, and remembers a particular event pivots on the relationship one has to the event.  Your view shapes the event.  The type and extent of one’s experience changes the texture and nuance.  Memories of the same event are framed by values, priorities, and aspirations.  Everything hinges on what and how one comes to the moment.  Sometimes the experience is universal; rarely does a beautiful sunset cause pain.  Yet one person’s music can be another’s noise.  Moonlit nights can bring romance or fear.  There are more sides to life than anyone can imagine.
 
Far too often I find the differences in how you and I see things shaping my view on the event itself.  It is as if I take the gaps as the paint colors for life’s picture.  Life doesn’t have to be driven by war yet I often find myself seeking this alternative instead of listening and learning.  I take the first conclusion and run with it.  I see that “God will sound out in grandiose thunder, display his hammering arm, furiously angry, showering sparks—cloudburst, storm, hail!”  (Isaiah 30.30)  I know exactly what this means because I understand your life and God’s! 
 
Yet the truth is something quite different.  God may talks differently than me.  It doesn’t follow that my understanding of what is going on is actually the truth.  Quite the opposite.  Anytime there is a difference I have an opportunity to slow down, preferably stop, and listen.  I can learn from your experience, journey, and views.  My life can be richer, more complete, and connected to a greater community in the process.  It is a wonderful, more complete way of living.  My values and priorities hold, yet I am integrating, not separating.
 
Today is a fresh opportunity to learn, grow, and interact with others.  Unusual things will happen – some good, perhaps a few things bad.  Whatever the flavor, we are stepping into an unwritten chapter with our hands on the pen.  What follows is our story.  It’s also our part in process that doesn’t need sides.