{lessons}

I am finding, these days, that 9 times out of 10, if I am not at peace with someone else's decision

it is usually because, deep down, I am not at peace with my own. 

I question based on them, rather than based on God. 

I am finding, these days, that conflict as an adult is inevitable because we are all uniquely created and flawed. Getting along isn't the goal, but peacefulness and assuredness is. 

Peace and assuredness in our likeness as children of God,

the understanding that we are different and yet necessary for the whole portrait of God's family. 

I am finding, these days, that to hear God, you must understand that just because a Christians says it, doesn't make it true. Wise counsel is pertinent, yes, but not more so than the Bible or the seeking/asking of the Holy Spirit to move. Or to speak. These, in stillness, are the places God resides. 

The three must be intertwined. 

Feelings are deceptive. 

Only God knows your heart. 

I am finding, these days, that imagination is necessary to help people see the story of God. Not simply where it is now, but where it is going. That we must exist between the resurrection and the vision of things to come in a messy world. That imagination and art help us go deeper, understand things that cannot be spoken, and see God's heart in ways that cannot be summed up in theology. 

Yes, imagination and art are crucial to our faith. 

Whether we dream them up or experience what others have dreamed up.