Thread and Needles

Sometimes it is hard to see the signs.  Everywhere you look it is as it was yesterday, the day before, and the day before that.  Nothing has changed.  Nothing is triggering an “alert” awareness.  Nothing is out of the ordinary.
 
Far too often I find myself in this situation only to discover I was blind to the signal.  Frequently it is obvious in hindsight, yet at the time I truly could not see the signs.  On other occasions the signal was there for the understanding but I wasn’t open to hear what could be heard.  Being blind and deaf isn’t recommended.  While the other senses may be heightened one is operating at a handicap.  It is too easy to miss something.  It is too easy to fall behind.  It is too easy to put one’s self at risk.
 
Signals can be thread and needles in a big pond – hard to see and even harder to pick-up (understand).  If one doesn’t look then it is a forgone conclusion that one will never see.  If one isn’t aggressively open to what might be heard then messages will be lost.  Yet being aware, seeing to hear and understand, isn’t enough.  One needs help.  When the message comes, “everybody everywhere, all earth-dwellers: when you see a flag flying on the mountain, look!  When you hear the trumpet blown, listen!”  (Isaiah 18.3)  See, hear, and alert those around you! 
 
The key ingredient we often miss rests in sharing what we see and hear.  Life isn’t a zero sum game.  Everyone can win.  Everyone can be part of the recreation.  Everyone is a member of the “winning” community.  Everyone is because God created the scene this way.  Any failure to pass the alert on merely hurts the community, it doesn’t help anyone.  We cannot, will not climb to success over anyone’s back.  This community operates on different principles.  We are in life together.  My good news is yours.  Bad news is a disaster for us all.  This questions we face are ones we can work on together.  Life is community.