Talent

I opened my fortune cookie tonight. It said something about a talent that is not shared is not really a talent. Kim opened her fortune cookie. It said the same thing. I don't believe in fortune cookies.

I do believe in talent, and the call, the mandate, the requirement that we share whatever God has given us as a gift or an ability.

While I consider the cookies and their messages, I listen to the works of Cash, Chapiin, Croce, Haggard, Jennings, Bare and more. I consider Weston, Whitman and others.

Sharing ain't easy. But it is not an option.

The Journey continues

It was shocking to see that my last posting here was in September. How time flies when on unmapped journeys.

This past Thursday provided a startling juncture that will guide or illuminate my path for years to come. In Quest, a men's church group class, the instructor stated that of the many hurts to be healed in our lives, the greatest is our disconnection from God. He went on to explain how we are born disassociated from God and that our life's journey exists to allow us to return to Him (reminded me of the Catholic version of Original Sin). More news: scriptures reveal time and again how our best intentions to do right are mitigated by our hearts' predisposition to evil; we have the potential for good and evil, and we are born in a trajectory away from heaven, not to it; and, a lot of our current social dilemmas are based on our sense of self-importance. The latter was revealed by statistics that show that about 20% of men and women felt they were important and offered something special to the world in the 1940s and now that number hovers close to 70%. In our world of no losers in school, points for trying, and feel good churches, we have created a society that has lost its respect for others' value, integrity, respect and importance because, after all, "I am important."

There were more lessons, too many to address here. But the foundation of the instructor's teaching was profound, but not new. The stories of hubris in ancient times appeared even more relevant after the Thursday morning class. Blessed are the humble...wherever you are.

The Journey....of journeys

I'm at the confluence of three streams: reading "Blue Highways" and the lessons therein about the wisdom gained on journeys (of all kinds); attending the class at church about using one's gifts in service to God in service to His creation; and, collapsing under the weight of the burden of trying to keep everything under control (life as project management, as it were). The streams confluence has created a non-trivial disturbance that I hope will become an energy that will become a rapids of excitement and propulsion. But, for now...well, I have a crazy combination of influences coming together creating something new, and bringing me insights.

The overwhelming lesson on this part of the journey is simple: "Being confident is okay, but you gotta be humble." Yes, I believe that I'm called to do great things (greater things than simply success in the day job, or touching a few people with my presentations and imagery, etc.) and I'm committed to doing them, whatever they end up being. But....I have to continue to remind myself that no matter how powerful the call and how great the purpose, on a worldly, universal or eternal perspective....well, my work is nothing much. So much for "being all that and a bag of chips."

The streams are also carrying messages and insights that reveal and remind that most everyone wants to be recognized, affirmed and assured that what they are doing is important. Most everyone, I believe, wants to know that in at least some way, they are "all that."

So, where is the only place where everyone can (or should) be accepted as "all that" on at least one thing? The place where they are recognized as important because they are God's creation. That should be sufficient, but it requires faith, and active work and prayer to accept that the only "person" who matters---God---DOES belief you are "all that and a bag of chips." We all have a hard time believing that. We need our faith, particularly in these times, to find a place that says "you're special, you're loved and you ain't perfect...but that's okay."

The Journey continues

My fiancee, Kim, and I attended the first meeting of our first church study group together. The s m a l l group topic is a book titled "If You Want to Walk On The Water You've Got to Get Out of the Boat." It is certainly a topic that both of us are interested in, and one that I find particularly compelling. For all my belief in it, I still feel like I'm not getting out of the boat. I believe this class is akin to when one opens the bible to a random page and finds something that really needed to be read/heard that day. I pray that the discussions related to the topic and book are the inspiration and support that I need to get out of the boat.

More news as this takes hold...

More and more I feel that I still haven't begun the journey; maybe I'm still simply packing my bags. Who knows.

Passing of Time

The last week or so I cited someone's comment to me that the passing of time was obviously important to me. I have considered that reality and wondered how long that has been going on. Is this a midlife matter or something that rests at a more cellular level. As I've thought about the matter, I found clues further and further in my past when I was touched or concerned about the passing of time. A poem that I wrote at age 17 about honoring an old man and wondering whether he had hard feelings of lost abilities and memories was clearly influenced by Neil Young's "Old Man." The song was influential, and I was naturally receptive.

But today, as I struggle for words with this week's Listen to Life newsletter, I select tunes that take me back to a different time and place. "Puff the Magic Dragon" plays and the answer comes clear. The reason that I still cry when I read Sly Silverstein's "The Giving Tree" is the same reason that after a few listens to "Puff" as a young kid, I could not listen to it for decades. They both to speak to the changes, the losses, and the mortality of aging, and how that changes relationships. They also speak to the permanence of love throughout.

The passing of time has always concerned and intrigued me; I've done my best to honor that through my creative outlets as an adult. I realize that this concern is nothing new that I need to re-align to forge into the future. My concern for changes manifested over time and for the lasting of love and relationships was written into my DNA. The question remains, what do I do with this? and now how can I get rid of this?

The Journey continues

The old joke comes to mind...the one about the man who says God will take care of him as the huge hurricane is coming. At different stages of the flood, up until the time when the man is on his roof, various people come by to help him evacuate from the dangerous situation. Each time, he replies, "God will take care of me." When he drowns and goes to heaven, he says to God, "I thought you were going to take care of me." "I tried," God replied, "with the neighbor, the fireman and then the Coast Guard guy."

The dual messages come to mind next: do we really know when and how God is influencing us and/or our lives? and God's work is done through God's people.

I struggle with both issues on a daily basis. Are the multitude of frustrations in one realm of my life actually "signals" to leave that situation for something different, or are they shaping and forging me to do God's work there? I prefer to think it is the latter, but I wonder if it is the first. Perhaps circumstances are God's way of saying, "time to move on to your calling. See? There is nothing for you where you are." Or is it that? Only prayer and discernment provides some clues, but never the clear answers.

No matter what the message is, it is undoubtable that people are the hands and feet of God, i.e., the physical presence. Each opportunity to meet someone new, or to interact genuinely, is the chance to access just a bit more of His power, grace and flame.

The Journey: Part Five

The conversation was about parents, fitting on Mother's Day. Then he said, "She told me that a child's first impressions of God comes in the actions of the parents." Zing.

I thought of when I explained to a struggling friend that God was "mega-dad," a loving and caring father figure. Or to my sons that God was caring, though not afraid of disciplining, but largely leaving us to our own decisions. Example upon example substantiated the claim made to my friend about parents' roles in shaping impressions of God.

It didn't take long to get to the next step: responsibility. Parents have a responsibility to share concepts of faith, love, charity, respect, not only for the current day behavior of their children, but also their children's perceptions of the divine that will affect them for a lifetime.

The Journey: Part Four

The sermon at church service yesterday was supposed to discuss the topic of finding peace in times of fear. But that's not what I walked away with.

Citing Matthew's story of Jesus walking on water as an example of finding peace in turbulent times, i.e., Jesus coming to Peter and the apostles during the storm. Peter sank because he did not have sufficient faith. The lesson continued. I couldn't let go of what I believe is the real question, in that reading, throughout the Bible and in our daily lives: "having belief and having faith are totally different issues...issues that can mean your life, and life hereafter."

Whether one can translate belief in something to faith in it marks a distinction in our lives of religion, work, philosophy and daily life. Belief in God and faith that He loves us, saved us, and wants us to be happy separates the flock, as it were. One can believe passively. Faith requires action because it is the faith that supports the action.

We are called to action, to take the steps necessary to come closer to God. We cannot take those actions without faith.

The Journey: Part Three

(c) Dion McInnis 2007. All rights reserved.



CONVERSATIONS

A couple of weeks ago, my youngest son and I were heading to the house. It was one of our weekends together, which always results in stories, fishing, laughter and a bit of craziness. On that day's drive, we added a conversation about God. I don't recall exactly how we got to the topic, but it is not where we started...just as it is for many in their questions about God. Those questions arise from other questions, like "why did I suffer the loss of my parent/child/spouse?" or "how was all this neat stuff really created in the first place?" It was something like the latter question that got us going.

We talked about God, creation and such, and then his questions became a bit more directed, like "what do you believe God is then, dad?"

We had a long, wonderful dialog lasting about 45 minutes and then he said, "We don't have conversations about God at home. This was interesting."

God is interesting. So are conversations about him, as long as the conversing parties can maintain mutual respect for each other's questions, answers and beliefs. We become better teachers of our faith when we actually teach it and encourage others to learn (there is a difference, you know); just like we become better believers when we share beliefs and converse with those with little or no belief.

Jesus' work was largely built on stories shared in conversations, with groups large and small. I don't imagine him having a library of self-help tapes and DVDs, actually. It was the give and take of conversation that spoke to the value of the downtrodden, the clarity of the Kingdom, and the role of discipleship.

...which leads me to another conversation, with a colleague. Once we finished our business chat, we found ourselves talking about faith, religion, and such, and I told him about this blog on "the journey." He asked a question: "Who do you believe God is?" It was an easy question to answer based on my beliefs and experiences, though the answer was not something memorized in an old catechism book (though influenced by it), nor from ministry classes (though influenced by them), nor from a multitude of religious and philosophical readings (though influenced by them).

...which leads me to another conversation, with my middle son. We were discussing jobs, roles, callings, making changes along the way while keep an eye on the ball. And what is "the ball' anyway? For me, it has to do with using the abilities that God gave me as fully as possible. Anything that impedes that is not tolerable over the long term, in my mind, and I feel that I will be called upon on Judgement Day to respond to the age-old question? "What did you do with what I gave you?" I figure that means the talents I was born with, the people who have influenced me throughout my life (either positively or negatively), the country and society that I live in with its temptations and its opportunities, my health, and so on. What HAVE I done with those things in order to fulfill a call to serve, to make the world a better place and to help others in MY way?

The point of this part of the journey is simple: Talk. Converse. Ask questions, answer questions. We as people connect in conversation, learn in conversation, are healed in conversation.

Years ago I delivered a homily on the theme that we are all Christophers, no matter what our name actually is, i.e., we are all Christ bearers, taking Christ from one place to another, from one side to the other, from one people to another. And it isn't easy. And that's okay. Conversing with others is one great way to carry the message....for yourself and for others.

The Journey: Part Two

Photo (c) copyright Dion McInnis 2005. All rights reserved.

I'll build my own, thank you.