"Listening is rare". We need the certain people to whom we feel we can talk because they have such a deep capacity for hearing, not just our words, but hearing us as a person. They enable us to communicate on a level we have never reached before. They enable us to be as we have never been before.We will never truly know ourselves unless we find people who can listen, who can enable us to emerge, to come out of ourselves, to discover who we are. We cannot discover ourselves by ourselves. Note the words "there are certain people… who enable us to be as we have never been before." Those are the people we need most.
Who is my coach? The older, wiser, and more experienced person who would stand on the sidelines of my life watching out for me and at the same time having the bigger picture in his mind all the time? A coach who doesn't try to run the race for me but sets the standard for the race and makes a judgment on my performance.
Who is my coach? The older, wiser, and more experienced person who would stand on the sidelines of my life watching out for me and at the same time having the bigger picture in his mind all the time? A coach who doesn't try to run the race for me but sets the standard for the race and makes a judgment on my performance.
Who does this for me? Who stretches my mind? Who makes me wince as he exposes the many faces of my ignorance; who will not let me get away with Spiritual and intellectual superficiality. Who listens to and encourages my dreams? Dreams are not intellectual propositions that must be proven. They are the work of visionaries; they are out-of-the-box, frequently awful and occasionally good. These are the folks who, when others laugh and say I am trying to build castles in the air, remind me that God is ever unchanging and never forsake His child, that He is the one Who protects and cares for me?
When the Christians in Jerusalem wanted nothing to do with the newly converted Saul of Tarsus, Barnabas acted as his advocate. You don't have enough voices. You need others to speak up for you. Who shares your tears? Mary of Bethany was the only person in the room who understood what Jesus was going through as He came closer to His hour of death. She alone shared His tears.
Who is close enough to us to pick up the signals, to sense when fears and tears need to be shared? Yes, there are times when we need a pep talk or a boost, but there are also times when we need to be encouraged, to process our emotions. Who does that for us? Who rebukes us? Even with our 20/20 vision, one pair of eyes is not enough. We have blind spots. Satan is always ready to remind us of our good qualities. But a true friend is the one who exposes and challenges our self-seeking, self-pleasing and self-dependence, and helps us to restore to God the authority that we have robbed Him of. Who seeks God with us? Praying together to keeps us honest. It also keeps us dependent on God. We are reluctant to open up, to get real about our areas of struggle. Yet it's only in the honesty of shared prayer that we draw closer to God - and to one another.
Who is close enough to us to pick up the signals, to sense when fears and tears need to be shared? Yes, there are times when we need a pep talk or a boost, but there are also times when we need to be encouraged, to process our emotions. Who does that for us? Who rebukes us? Even with our 20/20 vision, one pair of eyes is not enough. We have blind spots. Satan is always ready to remind us of our good qualities. But a true friend is the one who exposes and challenges our self-seeking, self-pleasing and self-dependence, and helps us to restore to God the authority that we have robbed Him of. Who seeks God with us? Praying together to keeps us honest. It also keeps us dependent on God. We are reluctant to open up, to get real about our areas of struggle. Yet it's only in the honesty of shared prayer that we draw closer to God - and to one another.
4 comments:
Yes, Amen. I know another young man who cried out for the same thing, and shortly thereafter I found myself looking for the same thing.
I'm agreeing in prayer for you, regarding that Godly "someone" to walk with you for this level and stage of the Faith Walk.
Thanks my friend.
Longsuffering, I posted a link on my blog that goes back to your posting.
Also, i just had an opportunity to catch up with your postings and it sounds like you're thirsting and hungry!
Know that there are ppl thinking about you and helping to take your cares to the Father in Prayer.
Thanks my brother, You don't know how much those words "know that there are ppl thinking about you and helping to take your cares to the Father in prayer." Taking over a church which was messed up is not easy,pray that God will give the breakthrough. Amen!
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