Words Unspoken

 

Some people like to talk.

They almost, it seems, enjoy to hear themselves speak out loud. To cast upon those around them their opinion or life experiences with their own spin to ensure IT connects with them. Essentially when this happens the person being talked to..was the person being heard from but now......they haven't even really been heard. They haven't been heard. The story teller simply casts their life circumstances upon the scene and interjects their version which, in turn, gives off the imagery of an open window. Open windows allow air to pass through them and what was in can go out as the same with what was outside has access inside. It is an open portal where information and words and stories are like the wind, passing through with perhaps no true direction….just winds blowing.

When I tell a story or have a need and am proclaiming this need, what I am longing for is not an open window. I am longing for a friend. Someone to listen. Someone to be connected to God. What I really desire in the midst of my sharing: a mirror image. An image of what is being seen. In other words, if the person in front of me is listening to…me, they could sit before me and reflect what it is they see and hear as well as communicate what they sense the Lord is saying in their hearts and in mine! But, for them to vomit their own experiences on my life to simply say they “know what it feels like” is to turn the conversation from what I was sharing and for me to have not been heard. Again, to talk about themselves means I have not been truly heard. You, too…here’s to hoping you would be heard as well.

What’s in the mirror?

A mirror is an object that reflects light or sound in a way that preserves much of its original quality prior to its contact with the mirror.

Original quality….to me, this is “what is present” in the person who is sharing their heart.

Original. Quality. To preserve in a positive light. I tell my kids that “positive attitude gains positive results” and “negative attitude will acquire negative results”. I do well to remember my own words in my daily living.

This morning in my time w/Jesus, I came across:

This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet: “I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter what has been hidden since the foundation of the world.”

-Mathew 13:35

What in the world was it about Jesus that when He spoke to people…he told stories. Stories that are true. Stories that drew attention to God. The kingdom of God. Heaven. Interaction with God and man. A reflection of the people listening…..feeling like they were staring into the pupils of God and seeing their true selves. Experiencing what God and His love and His desire really is. Hearing and seeing “how to be” – straight from the “horse’s mouth”.

God speaking about God. Seems quite different than a friend speaking about themselves. Quite different. Quite inviting.

For the Lord to speak of what has been hidden….hidden since the Earth’s foundation. Hidden…apart from sight. Not in view – the things of God’s nature and desire for you and me. If I sit and think about what Jesus Christ was communicating and fulfilling scripture and how He would peer into the souls of man, it gets bigger and bigger. It causes my heart to leap and be drawn closer and closer to this Man…to this Person who came to rescue His creation.

Jesus came not just for the sake of fulfilling scripture. Jesus came because of God and His love. Jesus came to fulfill what God spoke – to BE the truth and to BE God’s love and to BE the Living God-in-the-flesh and to BE a reflection of what-is-God-like and to BE my sin and your sin (all the mess that exists in this world before and after you and me) so that we would not have to face it – ever. To take a look at Jesus is to take a look at God and His faithfulness and His love and His power, holiness, justice, peace, eternal dominion and calling to all that belongs to Him. It is to cause shutter and fear in our boots as we consider the awe of who God is and how God is. Jesus Christ is He. Jesus spoke in a way that we could connect with all we never knew. He speaks to me on a regular basis. He walks with me….He talks with me…and He calls me His own.

He fulfills what is missing in my heart. He paints a picture with strokes of truth and power…unlike any other storyteller ever. His parables reflect the longing of understanding in my heart and brings forth clarity.

Clarity.

A clearer picture of God – that feels nice. I will continue my journey with Him…

Perhaps you wish to experience some of this, too? Look into the mirror – what do you see?

“I’m starting with the man in the mirror, I’m asking him to change his ways….no message could have been any clearer – if you want to make the world a better place..than make (change)..”

-Michael Jackson; “Man in the Mirror”

Jesus changed me.

 

Blessings,

-ao