"YES" to Don's status update question, "Does the world really need more gurus?" (I almost want to ask, "Is this a trick question?" "Do we need more wisdom in the public square?" "Yes, Yes, a thousand times Yes!"
If God has given me insights it is my responsibility to share them with those I believe can benefit from them. If one cannot come to faith unless they hear and not come to hearing unless there is a voice (my paraphrase of Paul in Acts) then how can people make good choices and live well without input and feedback?
I get most of my input from books, you?
What if one does not read? Maybe watch the lives of others and take note of what they are doing and what they aren't doing? Or maybe just make up the rules of the game as you go? I have to believe that we need more gurus, people willing to put themselves out there even if only a few will take the gift they offer to heart.
This year my goal is to read more slowly and think about what I'm reading more deeply. I'm hoping to make more connections, have more original to me thoughts, and then pursue a response to what I am reading. The response may take the form of a blog post, like today, or it may show up as a Facebook status or some snail mail to you.
Unfortunately the writing will not be polished as I don't want to use my time in that way. So think of these writings as you and I having a talk over coffee, happy hour drinks, or a good chat in the hot tub at the Y.
Happy New Year 2020!
While reading The Pursuit of God today, Tozer was talking about people who compare. He was talking specifically about how people tend to compare their material possessions to the possessions of others. If I compare my lovely house to your house and your house is bigger, or nicer, all of the sudden my lovely house is small or dated.
The idea of making comparisons threw me right back to a few years ago when I was sitting in my chair and my eyes looked up at a Van Gogh print of sunflowers. What I sensed in my spirit was God saying to me - after I had spent a moment picking out the prettiest and then the ugliest sunflowers was, "What if one of the not-prettiest sunflowers was in a vase on your table? How would you describe it?" I thought a moment and said, "Pretty." It was an Oprah "AHA!" moment for me. "STOP COMPARING!"
Want to know what I thought today about that specific epiphany? I thought what an important lesson to teach our children and I didn't learn it till I was 60. For a moment I was sad about that because I so wanted to pass all the important life lessons on to my kids. But I didn't know anything about how comparing robs life of contentment.
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This isn't actually the sort of "guru-ing" I had in mind when I asked if we needed more gurus. I agree with you ~ sorta'. Passing on wisdom to others is ALWAYS needed, but it needs to actually be wise stuff, typically coming from a source that is as reliable as is possible for us to determine. To your take on gurus, I have to say, "Guru On!" The ones I hesitate to encourage, even actually discourage, are the many we spot on various Internet locations (Facebook, etc.), who have barely gotten their feet wet in living life yet, but seem to have all the answers anyone may ever need and you can have if, for a fee. In ancient Greece they traveled about sharing their wisdom for a fee. Some were worth their salt, but too many, as is too often the case today, they weren't worth anything at all, or even handed out a bunch of blah-blah-blah. Those gurus I'd happily bid farewell to for forever. p.s. Glad to see you've picked up your pen (keyboard) again :)
ReplyDeleteoops - some typos - I'll Proof-Read better before I hit "Publish" next time!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing, Don. I was pretty sure what you meant but I thought I'd springboard off of it. You know, like how you don't like pastors to preach a sermon off one phrase or verse. ;)
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