Go to the roundabout, third exit....

     My husband and I were looking at new cars recently. We were thinking of replacing a car I use to scoot around in with something a bit roomier, better suited to travel should we decide to do so.  In comparing vehicles I discovered some of the differences in which we view or describe attributes of the cars. We had totally different views on what we were seeing.

      This is a human problem I suppose but a problem only when you are not willing to expand your views and try to see from another person's perspective. This is not only true of people but of groups, religions, nationalities and so forth. Needless to say when you involve larger groups and larger concerns, the differences and stubbornness can lead to some very unsavory complications. Miscommunication, distrust, hate and even wars result from our inability or unwillingness to understand someone else's point of view.

         In todays passage, Thomas is looking to Jesus for directions. Today he might ask to put the location of where Jesus is into his GPS and head off waiting for a prompt to make a left in 800 feet, or go to the roundabout, 3rd exit. I'm not sure if it's a hardness of heart on our part or an inability to adjust our thinking but we want to hear things the way we want to hear things. If Thomas were driving in a car with another person there might just be an ensuing argument over whether it was the 2nd or 3rd exit on the roundabout.

          One of the things I learned in one of my many extra-curricular religious related courses was something called Myers-Briggs. To me it was about how we each perceive things for one. Second it's a realization that even though someone else views something differently it is just as valid as our own view. In fact, these differences make our view of the world richer and problem solving becomes an easier task because you wind up with more input, more options and better actions. It probably annoys control freaks and religious zealots who think things are black and white, my way or the highway and then "the one true way" which is inevitably, their way.

          In another of these extra curricular courses focused on broadening our perceptions, we were asked to view God as an elephant. With humanity standing all around the elephant, each person or group was asked to describe God. Of course each view varied dramatically.  Of course each view was accurate as spoken but it was not the whole view now was it? 

          This is a truth of life, the answer as it was for me on this blog two days ago and as it is every day of our lives is love.  Following Jesus is not about making left turns in 800 feet. Following Jesus is not about a singular path or and exceedingly narrow gate so only a few can follow.  If you live your life in love and keep your hearts and minds open, you already know the path to Jesus, you already know the path to heaven, to wholeness and to Nirvana.  Insisting childishly on our own narrow set of rules only sets us up to failure and the biblical wandering in the desert of life.

      Opening our minds and seeing the richness of other views makes life and God's love for us all that much more beautiful. 

          

John 14:1-7

‘Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling-places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way to the place where I am going.’ Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.’