Together, we pull our coats a little tighter and scarves closer to the edges of our pink ears; I breathe out a puffy, miniature cloud into the chilly air, scanning the view. Spread before on the linen landscape, rise small trees, rugged and twisted. The undulating slopes of the distance are smoky gray, the closer: blush amber. The closest yet, are hazy with determined green springing through rocky earth. If our feet started moving, we would look down. The little plants are all varied and different. Some of them, you know their names and they look familiar. But like everywhere we’ve been, there are some growths that are…disagreeable. The thorny bramble wraps around your foot, or drags across the leg. A nettle catches against the hand, leaving rashy-red behind and stinging irritation. What is this, though? Some of these are just completely unfamiliar. We’ve never even heard of this little glowing flower, or that strange, delicate fern. We walk carefully. There is much to see.
What we’re looking out across on this nippy morning is called the “Opinionscape.” It’s a world of other people’s thoughts, motivations, and outright beliefs and we are always trekking through the very middle, almost like Hobbits picking our steps carefully through Middle Earth. Granted, I’m not always taking this walk with you, that’s true. But what would you do with a strange plant that struck your curiosity? What would you do if you thought you were getting a reaction internally to something, maybe even poisonous or (gasp) deadly?
We usually turn to the closest person and say, “Hey, what is this?” But, that person is seeing the Opinionscape through their own eyes. They may be able to shed some light on the discovery, but are they the Ultimate Source? I don’t know about yours, but my friends I may trust my life with, might say something informative like, “Hmmm, gee, I don’t know. It’s probably one of those socceronous duplos thingies, right? Hey, you’re supposed to tell me, Braino.” That doesn’t get us far, with truth.
So what about a guidebook? Most of us are not born botanists, except my dad, and we must turn to a source. When it comes to opinions, we have to be alert enough to do the same. Cross-checking the beliefs we come across against a standard that is written by Someone Who Knows. How else will we know how to respond?
I sat at the table in a foreign country in awe and wonderment. I turned to a fellow guest at the banquet table and struck up an important conversation, “You wouldn’t eat something if you didn’t know what it was, would you?” I smiled. He picked up the little creature, roasted with its eyes bubbling out, and brokenly told me in sparse English, “My dear, it is dead and very good.” It crunched funny when he bit its stubby, tentacley legs off. So…I didn’t believe him, necessarily; but once I knew what it was for sure, I had the knowledge necessary to put it in my mouth, as well. (I mean that I ate a different little crunchy bubbly, not his.)
Who do you pick for your Someone to tell you real truth? Is it yourself, fallible person? Is it your experience? Yes, it is a real-life record: albeit experience lacking the perspective of a timeless Being who can zoom out and see every possible experience and scenario at once… I do not doubt your sensibilities or common sense, even. But I know you’re not Ultimate Wisdom. Who is, then?
Maybe you’ve met Him and you just need to keep in better touch so you know His secrets, and can flip to the page in the Book with the answer. Or maybe you haven’t yet and you’re a bit confused: check this out…www.livingwaters.com
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