Open Your Mouth

Did you know that a handful people out there check this page daily only to find no updates whatsoever? Or, I mean, really rarely? Someone from Richburg is really consistent, as is someone in Nebraska. I don't even know anyone who lives in those places. Least I don't think so. But I suppose their consistency is paying off, because here I am. Updating.

A few thoughts.

1) A novel idea.
Those things that you think about--that you mull over in your mind over and over again, that seem always present in your mind even if you're not focusing on them in the moment, but you'll come around to in a second when there's a little bit of space for it to slip in--will often come into clearer perspective when you express them, out loud, to another human being whose opinion matters to you. Depending on the subject, there's always risk involved (no one wants to be told what they don't want to hear), but it does help. You've said the same exact thing to yourself a hundred times, but when you hear yourself saying it to Not You it sounds different--not completely different, but you hear it differently. Your mind processes it differently. And then, if there's feedback, that changes things, too. All of a sudden your brain is not its own self-sufficient judge of all things pertaining to you, but, wait a second, someone else is adding their voice to the mix. And, if you listen to them you might even learn something from the experience. Don't be proud. Open your mouth and your process of judgment to someone you trust, who cares, and even the act of speaking it out to another pair of ears can help. You might be glad you did.

2) Closure is a good thing.
Let me 'splain. No, that will take too long. Let me sum up.
Forgiveness is a good thing. It's hard to ask for and it's hard to give (finding words for such things can be so, so, hard), but I've found that it is one of only things that is profoundly effective in putting anxiety, guilt, and shame to rest. Speaking up on either end can be painfully difficult (sometimes it takes years) but, ultimately, it soothes and heals like few other things can. For that God is good. Wonderfully, dependably, inexorably good.

3) Seminary is wonderful despite my failing efforts to be productive. Thanks for asking.