Or/And

I may have written this before, but…I have been living in OR. But the word, my word, is AND. Maybe this dichotomy thinking stems from an only-child childhood when my whole existence was supposed to be AND. AND with a twin. But, if everything happens for a reason…if things happen like they are supposed to…

I didn’t say everything happens for a reason. I said, all things work together for good. There is a difference. I never intend abuse, but I can overcome it, and I can create beauty even out of brokenness.

Ok, so, if I was meant to live AND.

You still can. In fact, you must. You and your life are larger than OR implies.

I think of another OR. Secular OR sacred. But it’s both, isn’t it? Meaning, my secular life is sacred; my ordinary life is extraordinary. The land of AND. Gosh, my OR mindset is everywhere. I don’t have to choose between writing and photography. I can do both. I can do music too. Lord, I have been very attached to lack. To “not enough” which is an OR way to think, actually. I can do this OR that, have this OR that. AND is a whole new world.

I want you to think for a minute about all the AND examples I have given you, in your scriptures. Four gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke AND John, each one contributing to the story. Paul AND Silas. Disciples sent by twos. When I went up to the mountain, I took Peter AND John. In the beginning, I declared it was not good for humankind to be alone. Think about that for a minute. In the story, after I created a human man, I communed with him on a regular basis in a place you have come to think of as paradise. And yet, despite communion with Me and communion with all of nature, there was a missing component, and that was union with another, like and yet unlike. You humans need companionship. You need mates, friends, and families. I created you with this need, much deeper than biology or prolonging the species.

Here is a Mystery. As I AM a Trinity, so are you. So is humankind.

You are a Being in three parts—body, soul, spirit. You need union with Me, you need wholeness with yourself, and you need to join with other humans.

There are other ways AND plays out in your personal lives. For you, one aspect is to acknowledge the seeming opposites that you love: sea AND mountains, east AND west, having roots AND traveling. Yes, writing AND photography. Solitude AND community. As you model a life ever more connected to Me, you will also be modeling and living a life more connected to others and to the natural world. OR cannot conceive—or receive—all I Am or all I can bestow. OR cannot live the Triune Life I Myself AM, the life I Am inviting you to live also.