Tuesday, June 13, 2006

The Kindness Search




"If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing." 1 Corinthians 13:2


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One of my favorite books is Adventures in Understanding by David Grayson. This morning I read:

"I wonder if ever you change human beings with arguments alone: either by peppering them with little sharp facts or by blowing them up with great guns of truth. You scare 'em, but do you change 'em? I wonder if ever you make any real difference in human beings without understanding them and loving them. For when you argue with a man (how much more with a woman), you are somehow trying to pull him down and make him less (and yourself more); but when you try to understand him, when you like him, how eager is he then to know the truth you have; and you add to him in some strange way, you make him more than he was before; and at the same time, and that is the sheer magic of it, you yourself become more.

"... (Now, facts are not to be thrown at people like dishes or vegetables, but somehow warmed into them.)"

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That passage reminded me of areas of Blogdom where I dare not wander, lest I accidently step into certain 'God Blogs' which are just itching for a fight, ones which between-the-lines declare, "Agree with me and God--or else-- we will shake and slap you until you do."

No, I dare not go to those places anymore. I search, instead, for hands which help, not hit, and I have no desire to go anyplace where Love is absent. Why wander to lands where I come away feeling worse than when I entered?

Once you've found something better, why go back? 

Well, unless God directs you back in order to help. Ok. But go with God, go with Love, lest you fight as you once fought, in vain, on levels where Love never stepped a foot upon.


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