I am at my best when my deepest longing is to communicate something of God to the people in my world, whether that be Velma, my kids, grandkids, the checkout clerk, the jerk that just cut in front of me, the fella driving the garbage truck, or a client.  I am not very often at my best so I'm not sure how much of that really gets done!  But the invitation to have my life be about that is always there, underneath, drawing me to it.

When I am aware of this this longing I am aware that I love Jesus, the One who most perfectly, in my opinion, gets the "message" about God across to those who need to hear it.   I don't think I can overdo it when it comes to seeking to understand, surrender to, and embrace the Spirit of this man, praying for the discernment and courage to be faithful to his will, and offering Jesus as Hope to others who are off center.

I know it is incredible, but I believe Jesus was and is God, in ways He could be concretely touched, seen, heard, opposed, embraced, and killed.  I believe He continues, through His Spirit, to shake loose everything that is false, and reveals Himself as the eternal relationship we need to live joyfully, peacefully, lovingly, and truthfully now, seeking to be a part of his Kingdom come on earth, and and whatever comes after this.

The Word became flesh, a human being.  The divine Person became a human person.  The Word did not become a doctrine, a system of thought, a law book, or even a story book, even though that is what we use our words for.  All of our attempts to structure spirituality into words don't work because a Person, Spirit, cannot be structured.  God is spirit, and those who worship God have to do it that way.

Now, frankly there's something about that I don't like.  It is so much easier to follow a rule book than a person, even if it gets really old and empty.  At least one can know whether or not one is getting it right!   When one is in a relationship with a person, trying to "get it right" is an interference in the relationship.   It is not trusting the relationship to be honest, open, loving, and committed enough to promote real growth.  I believe God is more interested in people coming to life, knowing they are forgiven of the life-killing ways of living they have and still do engage in, and more interested in them learning to love than He is in them being "right."  Hopefully we are becoming more interested in what He is interested in as we grow towards maturity.

"God, do you know why I sometimes prefer email or texts (written words) over being in the presence of another person?    Am I possibly using words to create distance under the guise of 'communicating' rather than being touchy flesh in the presence of other touchy flesh? Is that just a little bit too "touchy", perhaps?  Thank you for extending yourself in touchable flesh to us.  Thank you for not only giving us words in a book to read and learn from, but much more for becoming the Message in flesh, so that we could 'get it' and then pass it to others.  Amen"

I work with individuals, couples, and families to identify the ways of life and death in their lives and help uncover the motivation to choose that which leads to life, whether it be through counseling or spiritual direction.  - Sheldon Swartz, MA/LMFT