Unknown, surprise, and epiphany

I don't know what it is...for the past few weeks I've had so many thoughts floating about in my head. Wonderful thoughts about God and life and metaphor...
and a total inability to write them out. I'm not talking about a lack of time because even though I am ridiculously busy, it seems to me that we can usually make time for the things that we care about. It's simply about a rearranging of priorities (take right now, for example - I'm writing instead of doing homework because the back-up of thoughts is finally too great to stand without some form of relief).

I have thoughts a'plenty, it's just this inability to write. I think about writing it down and lose all desire to type. Instead of "writer's block," let's call it "writer's constipation."

~ Ideas about the metaphor about God and gardening (hopefully, I'll get to that one by the end of the month) from last week.
~ Musings about relationships
~ This week's concept of "swimming in the great, grey unknown"...

So many ideas and thoughts. And they're really just too wonderful to keep to myself. Not that my ideas are just so great, mind you, but it's really more about the sharing of something exciting. When we find things that we deem to be of value, the greatest expression of that can be to share it.

Wow. Epiphany. This is now completely free-write.

As Christians, we're called to share our faith. Don't we often look at this as a command and miss out in the invitation?

This faith that we have - this saving faith that redeems our lives and restores to us our beauty and purpose. We claim that it's the most important thing that we have. Value.

Shouldn't sharing it be a joy then? Why do we often see it as such a chore? "Good Christians share their faith. Did you share your faith today? If yes, then check this little box here. If not, then go back out and try to be a better Christian - oh, and here's a slap on the wrist for you."

It's so much more than about that. God invites us to share in His joy. He found us to be valuable - so much so that He sent His only begotten Son to die on the cross for our sins (thank you, John 3:16). And why? Because we were made in His image to glorify Him. His glory is valuable and worth sharing. Interesting concept, when we share God's glory with others, we glorify Him (directly, indirectly, perhaps both?). This isn't a commodity that gets smaller as it is shared. I'm not sure that it grows either, though. Perhaps, God's glory remains the same - it's our awareness that grows. And we are privileged to see the beauty of our God.

At any rate, it's not about guilt. It's not about earning your gold star of the day for being a good Christian boy or girl. It's not even about sharing in the "right" way.

God made us all so uniquely different, and corresponding with that are all the uniquely different ways that we can share Him and His glory with others. It's wonderful. It's amazing. It takes a lot of the pressure off, honestly.

When we rid ourselves of the shackles of fear and guilt and "ought," then we become free to breathe in this wonder that God has surrounded us with. And our freedom enables us to share.

This is roughly written, but I'm okay with that.

Okay, those are my thoughts for now. Tune in later for ideas on the metaphor of gardening, swimming in the grey, or a look at history and "I said, He said."

This has certainly not gone the way I originally thought it out. Yay God.