I get a variety of responses to my doodles. Some like the designs. Some are dumbfounded and ask what the abstract design is. Some see something that I don't see. I often see bears, especially the classic shape of the native American totem bear. So the other day when I playing around and saw the bear, I decided it was time to bring it to my stained glass studio. Do you see what I see?
Interesting twist of my life---- prior to the service getting started our minister spoke of the divinity of Jesus, just where Jim and the spiritual exercises had taken me this morning before worship.
Matthew and Luke have the divinity begin at conception, Mark jumps in at the baptism, while John has the word being present at the very beginning, way back when God was getting around to creating the universe. Which is true?
Why not all three? Does one have to be truer than the rest? If I am moved by one does that make the others less true or the one I was moved by more true?
Do you see what I see? What do you see?
I once showed my biology class a DVD about the brain. Electrical impulses shot about. The more they travelled in a certain direction, the stronger that pathway gets. For 20 + years I had many thoughts about nothing being Divine. Those thoughts created some strong Pathways. Ten years ago I realized they had to be put to death if my venture back to the church would take hold and on Christmas morning a minister anointed me after asking all of us to think of something inside of us that needed to die. That was a miracle. New pathways are strengthening in my brain taking me to places I do not know.... that takes me back to what I am doing in this life----- unfolding.
I can see the bear, Wayne! I can see the bear! NIce work, my friend. Wish I was as talented. As far as my question on divinity, I have, of course, my own explanation, reached through a few decades of Bible study and a pinch of experiences that I believe to have been God-given. Who among us, though, could ever claim to have complete understanding in this life? What I do know is: how we answer this question determines how we approach much else within the faith; and, even so, it remains a journey. Merry Christmas to you and yours, buddy...
ReplyDeleteJim-- sometime you will have to share your thoughts. I think I use the word "know" for complete understanding or certainty with "truth". Belief allows me to see stories in different ways and find the message in scripture.
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