The Hillside Life

We have five senses. We see, we hear, we taste, we touch, and we can experience aromas. What’s even more amazing is that we have the ability to translate these sensations into thoughts, to combine them, to analyze them, to reflect on them, and my personal favorite…to share them. There is no doubt in my mind that humanity was created in the image of God. Not a distance and cold mystical “god” but a real and personal God who thinks, acts, and feels. These traits shared by both the creator and the created form the framework of and create beauty in our relationships.

You think. You act on those thoughts. And you are able to express and experience emotion. Many of us experience the full spectrum of this “personal” and real life and yet it remains hidden. We do not share. We do not feel that our thoughts have value. We think that we are alone in our emotions or experiences. And ultimately we fear revealing these things, anticipating only rejection, embarrassment, and judgment from the watching world. This tragedy is not by accident…

Imagine something for me. Imagine a dense line of trees separating a beautiful hillside and a city. The hillside is full of wild flowers, trees, roses, shrubs…a wide variety of every type of plant. The city however is a dark and cold machine. Production and consumption have become the highest values and so there is little time for things like thought, art, and sharing. People simply have enough time to produce, consume and return to do it again.

This cold cycle led the people of the city into depression, isolation and discouragement because something in them longed for thought, expression, and beauty. Consequently production and consumption both suffered. In order to “solve this problem,” and get production and consumption back on track a group of elite folks who were in control of the city elected to send their representative up to the hillside to pick what they believed were the prettiest examples of life and bring them back to the city. From there the colors, smells, and images of these specimens would be reproduced in various forms of media and continuously distributed throughout the city in order to motivate and inspire the worker bees, I mean fine citizens of the city. Oops.

The intentions of the original elite were very cold and self serving and they knew that they could not guarantee that the next generations of elite would not become interested or distracted by the life on the hillside so they decided that they must erase all evidence that it ever existed. This was pretty easy to do. The elite simply had to control the popular information distribution sources and do some minor editing to the information being distributed. Soon people forgot to ask questions or check the sources that were producing and distributing the information.

Having been raised believing that man was just an advanced evolved worker bee who was happiest and safest when locked in a steady and predictable pace of “produce and consume,” the next generations of well intentioned elitists simply continued this cycle until very few people existed in the city who actually believed there really was life outside of the city. Those who did attempt to tell the old story of life on the hillside were quickly labeled dreamers, fairy tale chasers, or weak people who had just created a fantasy in order to escape the realities of the city. And so it went until the truth of the hillside was almost completely erased, almost.

Obviously analogies are limited and my short story telling capabilities are under developed due to my overdeveloped “produce and consume” capabilities. Here is what I am suggesting…

Mankind was created in the image of a real and personal God who thought, acted and felt. We were created to worship and glorify God and to enjoy existing with Him forever. This plan was hijacked by the ultimate “elitist” who sought power and control. Departing from the original plan, mankind joined the ranks of this “elitist” rebellion which did nothing but shatter our dependence on God exchanging it for the slavery of dependence on self. Ever since that time mankind has suffered the effects of this rebellion.

The good news however, is that there is a way to gain freedom from the despair of slavery. You know the rest of the story…this brings us to the present. You and I are fully alive. We are real and personal beings. Created in the image of God to worship and glorify Him and to enjoy existing with Him forever. We can confidently claim this without doubt or fear. Through Christ we are free now to think, act and feel understanding the truth of life! Our thoughts, actions and feelings; our lives, are no longer meaningless or valuable only based on the priorities or judgments of the world!

God is there! He is personal; thinking, acting and feeling in relationship with His people who are now free to do the same in return through Christ! The truth truly sets us free!
This promise is not just for us but for our children and their children and on down the line. The challenge before us now is to build our underdeveloped muscles and to proclaim, cultivate and celebrate this truth.

As I read the blogs each day I am lit up by the thoughts, actions and feelings of a truly free people who are now encouraging and sharing this life together! Every word written proclaims, cultivates and celebrates the truth and love of God. And we not only enjoy every word written but we can truly know and love one another! As we read Doug’s words, Lisa’s words, Jo’s words, Rick’s words, Nate’s words, Cammie’s words, soon your words and the words of all those who comment we are deepening our love for one another and bettering our understanding of one another.

Thank you for truly living. Thank you for sharing. Keep sharing! Keep living! Your thoughts, actions and feelings are the beauty on the hillside that testifies and serves as a record that true life does exist. I can’t wait to see more of the hillside life filter into the cities!

IHS,
Zach