God, there is some commercial out now, I can’t even remember what the product is, just the tagline. It says something about finding and celebrating what makes you different. The premise reminds me simultaneously of the Fascinate: Advantage book and personality test by Sally Hogshead and also of the quote about being yourself because everyone else is taken. What got my attention was the way it got my attention! As if there was some layer of meaning or message I need to, well, pay attention to. Something I am not doing, or not doing consistently, or not doing enough. Not a reprimand so much as a course correction, that is what the sense is, emotionally, every time I hear it. So that leads me to ask You, what? What are You trying to say? I know well enough now that You can and will use anything, any opportunity, to emphasize a truth or to draw out of us a question that You really are asking us. So, what?
What, what? The question is clear: what makes you different?
Isn’t that a little like asking what makes my heart sing?
Not necessarily. Humans are big on comparisons, and on contrasts. What makes you different?
I can think of two ways to answer that question. One answer really dovetails with something Pete and I were talking about earlier—once upon a time, seems like long ago and far away, I suffered from depression. I had circumstances to blame, sure, but I also seemed derailed and unable to think clearly, to focus on solutions or even on tasks at hand. I scared myself, actually. And I don’t think the person I was then is the same person I am now. I do think I am different, and what makes me different today, is the kind of relationship I have with You, and how You have led me to focus on gratitude. Honestly, I say it a lot, but it is huge, huge, huge for me. And it has made me a bigger and better version of myself for sure.
The other sense of the question, which could be worded what makes you unique, is harder for me to answer. I said to Pete last night, something like, isn’t it fun, living with an elf? And then I laughed! I think…I think my trying to stay upbeat and positive, which really is an outgrowth of coming out of that depression years ago, I think that makes me different. Say you grew up in a desert. Lots of drought. Very little rain. Very little green. And then you somehow are transported, or maybe you walk yourself, out of that desert into a much lusher, greener, growing landscape. But you never quite forget drought, forget that others live in that desert. And you meet them every day, people who still live there, in their viewpoint, even though they are surrounded now by this verdant, vibrant life! I think maybe what makes me different is that I can see the desert in the rearview mirror, and I can see it in others’ eyes, and at the same time, I can see the green grassy open fields. It’s almost like a fantasy overlay, God, like parallel universes or something. And I live in the greener one, most of the time. And, ok, here is what makes me different. Not that, not what I have said so far. What makes me different is that I KNOW, I just know, the green world is true. Real. And available. Available to live in. Available to thrive in. And I know it not only for myself, but for everyone around me, and so I try, in my little ways, to mirror that possibility back to those who are still, for whatever reason, living in drought. I think that makes me different.
Do you know what makes the desert bloom? Water. Rain. You know how the verse, she who waters will herself be watered, always resonated with you? Here is a reality some will not understand—I will use many means to communicate with My children. It is no accident, the date of your birth. You are born, for those who pay attention to such things, in Aquarius for a reason. You are a water-bearer. You bear My Living Water, and you carry it to all living things. You carry compassion and hope in very particular ways. You see future potential and possibilities where others see only dead ends. They see a path leading to a wall or a precipice, and you see a path leading to a doorway into expansiveness. They see a trickle and fear it will run dry, and you look upstream to see the spring that feeds the waterfall that plunges into the river that rushes into a meandering stream that eventually narrows to a trickle that nonetheless causes a flower to bloom. You follow the trickle upstream with your eyes and your heart and eventually with your feet and you come to a place of such beauty and power it could generate enough electricity to fuel a city! Your vision of reality is not skewed or distorted as much as it is unbound by time. You see forward. You have been accused of wearing Rose Colored Glasses. They are not rose-colored, they are Risen-Colored, for you have embraced all that resurrection entails, for your own life and for the planet you call home. Remember what I said in Narnia—Father Time was his name while he was sleeping, and now that he is awake, he shall have a new name. You are seeing beyond Time at times. Don’t let that scare you and don’t let that stop you. Your job IS to see, and to share. That’s what makes you different.
God, You told me a few nights ago that You aren’t in absolute control, in the ways we might think, or want You to be. So how can I see beyond Time if everything is random, if nothing is in Your control. I mean, how can anyone see? Or know? It doesn’t make sense.
I didn’t say nothing was in My Control. I said not everything was in My Control. Imagine this. Imagine a landlord with a set of keys, each key opening a door in a building he owns. That landlord doesn’t control what happens in each of those separate units, especially if the inhabitants want nothing to do with him, except to begrudgingly pay their rent, and to be left alone. Imagine further that some of those tenants don’t take great care of their units. The landlord winds up getting blamed for the state of the living space, when the tenants themselves have created a lot of the issues they then have to deal with. Now imagine a friend of the landlord comes to live in the building. They greet each other in the hallway; they share meals in the friend’s apartment; they do things together whenever they can. The friend takes great care of his unit, in part because that is his inclination, and in part because he does have this close relationship with the owner. His view of the landlord, of the building, and of the world at large, will be far different than the view held by the aloof renter down the hall. You are like that friend. Now imagine sitting down on a regular basis with the owner of the building, who shares his ideas and plans for the space as well as his hopes and dreams for other properties around the city. Imagine that landlord talking about building a whole community around principles of sharing resources and green space and parks and conveniences located nearby. Wouldn’t the friend get excited? Wouldn’t the friend want to live there? Wouldn’t the friend want to be a part of the development and the planning, if he were invited to be? Again, wouldn’t his view of the future, as well as of the present day, be far different than the view held by the more aloof tenant? And if he were able to somehow change the viewpoint of that aloof tenant, wouldn’t that be incredible and fabulous work?
That is the way in which you see the world I, Myself, hope for. That is the way in which you have a part in building that world, what I have called My Kingdom. See forward. Hearken to Jeremiah’s words, which you love so much, and which promise you that I do have plans, and they include giving you both hope and a future. Another way to say that is, to grant you true hope, not a mockery of hope that disappoints by never being fulfilled.
Gosh, God, You have given me a ton to think about. And all of a sudden I am tired, with that tiredness that comes from letting go.
Yes, this is enough to talk about at one sitting. Go rest now. And remember, I shall never run out of things to tell you or share with you. Our Companionship is Eternal. Never shall you tire of Me, and never shall I tire of you. So rest in that truth for tonight.