Q is for Questions

 

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We all search for answers to the big questions.  Not everyone realizes that they are looking for the answers.  Many of us don’t really want the answers, not the true answers.  We search for them in all the wrong places.  We find or we create confusion.  We are left with questions.  But there are answers if we look for them in the right places, or rather with the right person. 

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.   John 14:6

A to Z Challenge

F is for Find Out

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“So how do you know that?” 

“Well, it’s common knowledge.  Doesn’t everyone know it?”  I answered, surprised at the question.

“Well, I didn’t know that and I go there all the time.  In fact I have no recollection of that ever being the case.” 

I thought about that.  “Maybe I’m remembering wrong, but I don’t think so.  I’ll check it out and let you know what I find out.” 

His honest, non-threatening question made me wonder.  Was I taking too much for granted?  I needed to find out the truth.

After doing a little research I found out that my information, though technically accurate, was really inconsequential in its scope.  In other words, it wasn’t worth acknowledging or acting upon.  So the stress I put on my supposed “common knowledge” that made my friend ask the question, WAS really in error. 

How much do I believe, talk about, act upon without really understanding the ins and outs?  How much do I pass along without finding out the real deal? 

I’ve been paying more attention to those things, those ideas that I have accepted without giving it a second thought.  I’m trying to listen for those underlying assumptions to which I blindly acquiesce.  Our culture is filled with all kinds of ideas we operate on or agree to because they sound good or because someone we think we can trust said it.  However, with a little reasoning or research we might just see them fall apart.  

What 'common knowledge' are you accepting that may be based in error?  What ideas are you holding onto that have just enough verisimilitude to be convincing, but lead you to wrong conclusions?

I am grateful my friend asked that simple question, “How do you know that?” to prompt me to find out the truth.

A to Z Challenge

Dedicated to my friend Dick V.

Insecure Writer's Support Group: Who Am I?

The Insecure Writer's Support Group

It has been such a busy month trying to keep up with the A to Z Challenge.  Now I have whirling around in my head that I want to make the next hurdle and post on the reflections link.  And will I make it?

I am not a novelist, but I love to write.  I primarily like to share things that I have learned or that I believe the Lord is teaching me that someone else might benefit from.  I am a counselor, a home school teacher, a mom, a wife, not necessarily in that order.  I have been a newsletter editor, a speech editor, a program editor, among my various editorial experience.  But who am I to think I can even be part of an "Insecure Writer's Support Group?"

It has been a real high being part of the A to Z challenge and rubbing words with all of you real writers.  Who am I?  I write my thoughts down in a blog.  I write devotionals for our home school newsletter.  I write in my journal.  I think about writing more extensively, but barely have time to keep up with the pittance I am already executing.  A to Z was a real CHALLENGE for me to fit in while keeping up with all the rest of my responsibilities.  I am no writer.  Am I?

Who am I?  I am not any one of any notoriety and probably never will be.  I am a pretty joyful, Christian wife and mom.  I am happy to be serving my family, the church, and the community in the capacity that I do.  But is the Lord really calling me to write?  Do I have something to say that needs to be heard?  Who am I?  

So while I came away from the A-Z Challenge really excited for all that I learned and everyone I met and what I was able to accomplish, I also came away with that sense of "what am I doing here?"  Who am I?