I Miss You

There?s a strange tendency among us ?communicator? types. We can get so caught up in the endless cycle of learning and translating, observing and relating, speaking and writing, that we forget about you.

We forget about the people that are on the receiving end of all of this communication of truth and learning and wonder. Because of the way we were made, to constantly process information, to think about ways to take truth and make it real and relatable, we can get stuck in our own heads. And my head can be a like a school playground in a rough neighborhood. It looks like fun, but there?s a good chance some bully?s gonna push you off the swing and steal your snacks. And I often get stuck on the mental merry-go-round, spinning around with all kinds of ideas and wonderings and forgetting to stop.

And ask. And listen.

Because in the midst of this crazy season of speaking at retreats and releasing this book and filming the bible study to go with it, all of which I love, there is something more to it. The reason that I do this, the reason I blog and write and speak and make videos, the real reason I do it is because of you. I love people. I love their stories. I love their questions and their concerns. I love their doubts and their fears and I love when they voice them. I love when people are honest and vulnerable and real about their life with looking for God. I love when they are courageous enough to change. And more than anything, I love to watch people grow, and to encourage them in that growth. Because you know how growth is: sometimes it?s so slow, the only way we notice it is if someone else points it out.

As a kid, my family had a tradition of marking our growth in the kitchen door frame. Sometimes, if no one was around, we?d try to mark our height ourselves, straining to hold a pencil straight over the cowlick in the back of our heads. We?d end up skewing the angle and wondering why we had shrunk three inches since the last family measurement party. Life can be a little like that. We need someone else to eyeball our growth, to hold the pencil straight, to give us a true measurement, and to turn us around to look back at the markings and exclaim, ?look how much you?ve grown!?

So when I write or speak or teach, it?s because I?m answering a question someone?s asked me. When I blog or write an article, I?m voicing words that I need to hear, or someone I love needs to hear. I?m getting to tell someone in my life, or myself, ?look how much you?ve grown!?

So I miss you. I?d love to hear more from you and less from the ghetto kids on the playground in my head. And I wonder,
what are you learning right now, about yourself, or about life?
What questions do you have for God?
It?s your turn. I?d love to hear from you.

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