Incohesive Ramblings on The Way I Look At My Neighbor

Why do I categorize people?
Why do I assume things about them?
Why is it so easy for me to pick which stranger I could connect with...which one with whom I could not?

Sitting here drinking my venti non-fat mocha, no whip, which assumingly is not fair trade, I've become aware that I'm an ASUMER. Is that even a word? What I mean is that I easily assume things about people. I assume the people next to me are a pretty nice couple-probably no major marrital problems-their faces look content while perusing through separate magazines, taking a break from time to time to comment on what each other is reading. I assume that the guy three tables behind me is either on business or one of those cool emergents with his macbook, black thick-rimmed plastic glasses and grande iced carmel macchiato. I assume some people are friends and they came together. I assume some are lovers. I assume some speak spanish. I assume some english (I was wrong...Danish I think it was). I assumed this one girl was seeking for some verification in life, some type of affirmation. I don't know why. She was super-skinny and carrying a back-pack that weighed at least 1/2 of what she did-back hunched over to support the load and to keep from falling backward. I assumed she was carrying some pretty important stuff, maybe a lucky bowling ball? Maybe a load of her favorite books that she could whip out at any moment to indluge in? What else could she have been carrying in there? I assumed the guy who just passed saw my copy of "I, Francis" sitting on the table and maybe he assumed, "catholic".

I didn't know these things. And actually, I may not Know them at all. Not in the real sense of knowing since they may in fact not even be true.

What if I were to engage in conversation with just one of them? Would my perceptions change? Would my assumptions make me look like an ass? Would they prove me true? Would I learn something new? Would I begin to break down the dividing walls that lead to my assumptions?

Race, clothing, facial expressions, glasses and bookbags, what section of the bookstore they're in, traveling alone or in a group--Everything is external. I base these people's worth, I categorize them, I judge some of them, I admire others, all on their external properties.

I believe that we can get to the place where we look at people and only see something of worth. I believe we can begin to look at an elderly black lady and a 17yo with tattoos on his neck the same way. I believe we can begin to see the beggar, the barista, the child, the wrinkled man, the shopper, ther service worker, the Latino, the German, the Kenyon as human-As a being of heart and mind and not just body.

I believe in the redemption of our minds,
and our heart--not just our actions.
I believe part of becoming fully human is starting to see the true worth of our neighbor.

I'm not sure yet, but I think conversation is going to be one of the best ways to make this happen. Maybe the more we talk to people from a variety of places and ages in life, the easier it will be to disolve some of the separations in our mind and find some common threads in our humanity.

May you look at others differently.

The Hanging Of Blinds or The Rhythm Of Our Becoming

Tonight I hung blinds in our two bedroom windows. We've lived in that room for a month and a half without blinds--Sleeping with one eye closed and the other watching for prey that would test our screens and try to come in (mainly the two kittens who live on our front porch).
I don't know why I didn't put blinds up. I avoided buying them. And i avoided hanging them.
I'm an avoider. A passive creature down to the core.
However...that's beginning to change.
The need to avoid that lingers deep in my soul is being confronted and I'm beginning to confront.
Its scary I'll have to admit. I've never lived on the edge of life to the point of committing such terrifying acts as hanging the blinds.
I'm changing.

Jesus, you know him I think, he lived his life in a certain rhythm.
This rhythm connected him to the Father, renewing his spirit, forming his heart. This inner communion with the Father was evidenced through his actions- the way he spoke to the ugly, the manner in which he felt pity on them, the eyes with which he looked upon the hurting.

Its equally important for us to maintain this rhythm of connection, of continually living/practicing the Presence. For "I am the vine" and we cannot bear if we do not remain in him, if we do not live in him, if we are not nourished by him, if we do not find our identity in who he names us to be.

We are becoming persons. We are not today who we were before.
We do not need more stuff, more involvement, more action, more will-power.
We need more Jesus.

May you find a rhythm in which to access his Presence continually.
May your heart be re-formed. May your mind be re-positioned.
May you engage in what is awaiting you.

May you hang blinds...

CONFESSIONS #6: Thoughts on God in the Imagination

first thought
It is no waste of time to sit and contemplate God's presence.
To sit and imagine his face.
To be still and picture his closeness-
his bodily form resting in your same space-
to envision your Father sitting at the table with you reaching out his hand to yours,
to wait in his presence,
listening,
accepting,
believing,
letting.
Oh, the things that would happen if we took time to be and let them come to us...
allow them to happen in us...
permit Him to affirm them through us.


second thought
The more we operate from the Center,
The more we allow ourselves to be identified/affirmed/accept

ed,
The more we find our being IN him:

...the more he restores to us the masculine will.
The more the feminine intuitive is made real in us--validated...
The more we are INTEGRATED in all facets,
in all our personhood...
The closer we are to BEING.
The more we experience. The more we create.

Imagine the beauty when the created finally begin to pick up the pieces, and create.