Sharing Ideas

There are a lot of ideas that run through my head on any given day or hour. Most of them get filtered out and disappear like smoke. Some of them stick around for a while and eventually find their way out the door. A few actually make it into my conversations and prayers. However, even the ideas that make the cut often get held back from being put into practice for a number of reasons.

1. They are premature. They don't get buy in from others because the "long range" of it isn't able to be described or adequately fleshed out. This isn't always a shortcoming of the idea itself. More often it's a hangup of those who hear the idea and may or may not be brave or foolish enough to make the leap.

2. They get stolen. I'm not a person who has to have credit for things, but it still frustrates me when someone grabs and idea and runs away with it. Because, ultimately when the idea fails, the person comes back to me and blames me for not following through. Not sure how that happens, but it has happened. 

3. The looming fear of failure suppresses the idea. 'nuff said.

4. The looming fear of success suppresses the idea. If the idea makes it out of the gate, the institution wants it followed, tracked, measured, analyzed, graphed and so forth. The microscope is focussed and the idea is judged successful or not. But, for me, just the fact that all of the metrics get applied to each idea is oppressive. 

So now what...

It's time for more of the ideas to be shared. It's time for the fear of success or failure, theft or misappropriation to step aside and let the ideas live. Whether they live long or short, whether they meet with overwhelming fanfare or crickets chirping is completely beside the point. Ideas need to be shared in order for any of them to do anything. Ideas won't sit still without burning a hole in your heart or head, like a hot coal on a cheap lawn chair. 

How do you share ideas?

Restoration of Respect

1 Timothy 5:1-2 Paul writes, “Do not rebuke an older man but encourage him as you would a father, younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, in all purity.”

Let me get up on a nostalgia soapbox for just a moment. Remember TV shows like Leave It To Beaver, Andy Griffith, The Brady Bunch and even The Addams Family and the Munsters? They were shows with some amount of respect for family and the children, while still being children in their mischievous ways, respected their parents. Turn on any show on the Disney channel or other stations for that matter and you will see TV shows where the kids run the world and that all grown ups are idiots. There is no respect for family and certainly no respect for parents, if they are even around. There is a visible and tangible breakdown or distortion of all things family. I know that we cannot go backward, but a reasonable renewal of respect for family is needed. I shall now climb down from my nostalgia soapbox.

Paul is writing a letter to a young pastor, Timothy. He is giving some basic instruction about how to address the people of the congregation. It is all about respect. God had placed Timothy in this congregation and he was to treat all of the people with purity and respect. Those men older than he, he was to treat as fathers. Those men younger, he was to treat as brothers. Women older than he, he was to treat as mothers and the younger women as sisters. Respect, love, honor and purity.

How do we treat our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ? Or even those outside the church? Do we treat them with respect, love, honor and purity or are we arrogant, disrespectful, antagonizing and impatient? How about in our own family? It’s difficult to hear Paul’s words and not think, “I wish it were like that.” But we long for the day when the respect for family is restored, within the church and outside the church.

Jesus was told once that his family was waiting to see him. He replied that his family consisted of those who heard his word and kept it. Family means different things to different people and in different times. But Jesus died for all people, of all times, in all situations and in all families, which includes you, me and even those who have no regard for family.

We pray that the Holy Spirit, through forgiveness and reconciliation will restore and renew the respect, honor, purity and love that are missing so often. And as those through whom the Holy Spirit works, that forgiveness and reconciliation begins with us. May it be so, Amen.

Tinnitus and the Low Hum

It was a new experience for me. I spent three days at moose hunting camp in the Anderson area of Alaska. The hunting grounds were only an hour and a half south of Fairbanks so it wasn't a long way away, but when I was out there it seemed to be a long way from anything. With a borrowed four-wheeler, borrowed .338 rifle, and a lot of time, I camped and hunted with my friends Gerry and Jonathan. The weather was warm and beautiful, though not conducive to hunting moose. They prefer cold and grey. Each morning we would set out before sunrise and find our spot by the pond. Each evening we would set out before sunset and find our spot at the pond. Then... sit and wait.

It would've been different if we could sit and wait and talk, but you have to remain as silent as possible and as still as possible. For four or five hours we would sit and try not to move. When was the last time you had to remain silent for that length of time? Because it wasn't a matter of wanting to or choosing to. If we wanted to hunt moose, we had to. It was not easy. As I sat in the utter silence of the Alaska wilderness, I realized just how noisy my head had become.

First, I noticed the high pitched ringing. A constant squeal. When I was little, our TV used to have the same high pitched ring when you turned it on. Now, my ears ring. Maybe I watched too much TV, maybe it was all of the loud concerts, countless ear infections, whatever it was. I can't get rid of the ringing.

Next, I felt a deep hum. It would start and stop rather randomly, but at first, I looked around to see where it was coming from. But I'm out in the middle of nowhere. There's nothing to hum. Just as suddenly as it started it stopped. Whew! Hummmmmmmmmmmmmm. What is it? Do you hear that? I guess it's just in my head.

High pitched squeal, low range hum...no silence for me.

I'm sure 90 percent of the noise is physiological. But, in my mind, there's something else at work. It could be one of two things or both things, I'm not sure. Either it's God trying to grab my attention and let me know that He is always there. (but why would he use such an annoying sound?) Or it's the other guy trying to not let me have a moments peace. Or maybe it's both, one high and one low in competition in my head. The sound made it difficult to contemplate life in anyway but negatively. I struggled with positive contemplation, except right at sunrise, when the frost would start to form and the tops of the mountains would turn pink and orange. And right at sunset when the sky would go from blue to pink to purple and the air would turn cold.

Either way, I think I need to go back again and sit longer and listen again to the noise. Maybe, just maybe if I listen long enough, if the silence will last long enough, the noise will go away.

Perhaps?