Passing on knowledge or understanding to another is one of the most difficult things that ones can try to accomplish in life. I am not trying to be dramatic, rather my comments come directly from the pain of discovering something that is core to who I am has failed to be understood or shared by someone close.
Core values that I hold dear are being given back as mere words. Extensions of friendship and active compassion are seen as formalities with no meaning. Experiential trust is now found to be steps in a process of manipulation. On one hand the conversation continues and because of that there is hope, yet there is no understanding.
I struggled to understand where things went wrong; searching for answers amid a relationship that has many other fronts that seem to work. As I replayed the scenes and conversations over and over again there was a slow realization that began to grow. It was as if I was seeing myself in the mirror and frankly I didn’t like the scene!
On one side of the picture is the one trying to share their knowledge. “Listen carefully. I'm speaking sober truth to you. I speak only of what I know by experience; I give witness only to what I have seen with my own eyes. There is nothing secondhand here, no hearsay. Yet instead of facing the evidence and accepting it, you procrastinate with questions.” (John 3.11)
In spite of the warning, even with the invitation, and even though the foundation for a deeper relationship exists the questions and excuses continue. While I am hopeful I am not confident that anything will change with the coming dawn.
Today is a new day and the scenes of my mind have yet to be written. You and I have no obligation to get anywhere near the script that I have seen played out in my mind. We are free to be engaged in active listening with Divinity. The opportunities are wide open with God actively reaching out to each. Will we open our minds?
