HAPPY NEW YEAR!

In the beginning…these words have always held me spellbound, promising the revealing of great truths and intimate knowing that remains unblemished by  human experience, and thus any corrupted reflection.  We cannot/do not know what the future holds.  Each life commences in just the same fashion.

However, much of what we know, the means by which reality is perceived individually or collectively, is already hardwired into us by the tender age of five years.  Largely our basis for knowing predates a cognitive ability to logically create a synthesis of experience and is dependent upon chance or an immature reasoning based on emotion that lacks adequate input to properly evaluate what has transpired. 

Many of the decisions we make, our likes and dislikes, or willingness to move beyond our comfort zones are made within seconds of being presented with an option or confronted by a situation that causes us discomfort.  It is literally breathtaking the speed at which we embrace or reject opportunities, relationships, or new information!  Much of what we have come to adamantly believe we “know” is based on  “feelings” catalogued during our toddler years and little more. 

Additionally, every individual has an inner historian who tends to the rewriting of our personal stories concerned primarily with supporting the ego and our need to be the hero of our particular saga.  Human being is incredibly fragile; we unwittingly participate in this corruption of data to avoid overload of our insecure emotional selves, and to extirpate ourselves from any inadvertent culpability.  Changing this life-reducing pattern of thought and behavior is possible only when the individual reflects on past, present or future possibilities with a mature examining of, and reflection on, a total collection of information available at any given time.  It quickly becomes apparent that our human consciousness does have the capacity to expand over time, requiring a mature individual or society to revisit and examine previously held notions, however sacred, based on newly acquired information.

However, information lies at the crux of our modern dilemma!  Which information will we examine, evaluate, and stir into the primordial soup of an imagined or hoped for new reality?  Any recipe undertaken by a serious chef would necessarily demand organic ingredients. Only the purest, most healthy specimens contribute toward an exquisite experience of cuisine that delights the palate, satisfies hunger, and simultaneously benefits overall health.  Each ingredient must be carefully evaluated to determine its ability to blend, punctuate, and contribute toward a holistic impact on a desired outcome.  We all know too much of any one thing, or an inability to absorb or flavor other ingredients risks spoiling an entire dish!   

Always, I am awed by the Table ministry of Jesus that so deftly addressed the complexity of human sinfulness with the basic ingredients of water, wine, and bread leavened by the Word made flesh!  In this new decade of unlimited potential and possibility, I am dedicating my blog, “Rood Interruptions”, to a venture of imagining a future where God in Christ Jesus is the main ingredient and issues of the day might thoughtfully be assessed according to what will properly blend, punctuate or contribute toward a more Christ-centered vision for 2020.