Reflect

What do I reflect? Is it anger, beauty, sacrifice, love, hate, disappointment?  The complexity of all-of-the-above?

(How terribly inconvenient of us humans to exist with such a myriad of reflections, eh?)

When I think my last two highly emotive, off-the-cuff, honest posts not only do I get another vulnerability hangover but I wonder if I’m reflecting to you the version of myself I want to be?

Because, reconciliation.

Not just reconciliation between the halves of my racial and ethnic identity: white + black.  But because of: Me + You.  Husband + Wife.  Brother + Brother, all-things-to-all-things, all-people-to-all-people.  That, shalom-DEEP reconciliation that penetrates and permeates relationships so fully it is washed over in grace, love, truth, kindness, longs-uffering, faithfulness and more.  God is wholly other.  That’s how he rolls.  It is because of THAT hope, because of that wholly other love that pushed reconciliation to it’s furthest limits.  He put the weight of the world on the shoulders of an innocent man to tether us -for all eternity- in reconciliation with Him.  No one said it would be easy.  When I look as Scriptures, I expect complexity.

Reconcilation means you will most certainly complexify.

So. I wrote those posts. I had righteous anger. I had indignant anger. I had unholy anger.  If it were cut and dry I’d simply apologize.  But I am an inconvenient human being reflecting, all at once, a myriad of responses and conflicting emotions.

We are complex creatures made by a complex God.  If we are to pursue reconciliation, we live a life of reflection: both of our Jesus and of our relationships to one another.  It WILL be painful, confusing, beautiful, sacrificial, disappointing, foul & disgusting but we must never lose Hope in the one who’s all ready modeled perfect reconciliation on our behalf.

Reconciliation.  That’s my M.O.  That’s my end game. That’s my stee-lo.  Don’t get it twisted.

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“On Fridays around these parts we like to write. Not for comments or traffic or anyone else’s agenda. But for pure love of the written word. For joy at the sound of syllables, sentences and paragraphs all strung together by the voice of the speaker.

We love to just write without worrying if it’s just right or not. For five minutes flat.

Here’s how we do it:

1. Write for 5 minutes flat with no editing, tweaking or self critiquing.

2. Link back here and invite others to join in {you can grab the button code in my blog’s footer}.

3. Go and tell the person who linked up before you what their words meant to you. Every writer longs to feel heard.

OK, are you ready? Give me your best five minutes for the prompt: Reflect.”

–Lisa-Jo Baker’s Five Minute Friday