It is a marvelous thing...
Illustration
It is a marvelous thing to be known -- not "known" in the way a casual acquaintance can
greet us on the street, but the deep knowledge of an intimate friend, someone with whom
we have shared good times and bad.
That sort of knowledge is rarer than we may think. We have a natural distrust of people who seek to become too intimate with us, too early. We say they "wear their heart on their sleeve," these people who tell us their whole life story in the supermarket line.
Knowledge is power; to allow another to know us is to open ourselves to the possibility of hurt and pain. It's easier, by far, to sail through life in splendid isolation, believing we can navigate the shoals independent of all others.
Allowing others to know us is difficult, because it can change our lives. When we let down our guard long enough to allow another person to enter our splendid seclusion, we discover fellowship -- and that is a marvelous gift. It's as the old Arab proverb says:
Ah, the beauty of being at peace with one another, neither having to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but spilling them out just as they are, chaff and grain together, certain that a faithful hand will keep what is worth keeping, and with a breath of kindness blow the rest away.
Jeremiah shares how, from a very early age, God knew him in just this way.
That sort of knowledge is rarer than we may think. We have a natural distrust of people who seek to become too intimate with us, too early. We say they "wear their heart on their sleeve," these people who tell us their whole life story in the supermarket line.
Knowledge is power; to allow another to know us is to open ourselves to the possibility of hurt and pain. It's easier, by far, to sail through life in splendid isolation, believing we can navigate the shoals independent of all others.
Allowing others to know us is difficult, because it can change our lives. When we let down our guard long enough to allow another person to enter our splendid seclusion, we discover fellowship -- and that is a marvelous gift. It's as the old Arab proverb says:
Ah, the beauty of being at peace with one another, neither having to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but spilling them out just as they are, chaff and grain together, certain that a faithful hand will keep what is worth keeping, and with a breath of kindness blow the rest away.
Jeremiah shares how, from a very early age, God knew him in just this way.
