Welcome rain...

It's raining this morning...we need rain. I was thinking about how rain can be needed and wanted...and how rain can spoil all of our plans...

How we see life and our experiences in it is largely a function of what makes us happy...in the moment. Years ago, I was a Sunday School teacher for 11th grade girls...the father of one of my students was a very successful businessman, and taught by asking questions. One evening when I was in their home, he asked me, "Susie, why do people do the things they do?" I was 22 years old at the time, and by most accounts, thought I had a handle on all things great and small...but I never could give him the answer that he was looking for...and he would never tell me what the answer was...

And so today, I have never forgotten the conversation, or the question...and I still don't know the answer. Do we do the things we do to make us happy? Do we do the things we do because we feel like it's "the right thing" to do? Do we do the things we do in order to please God...or others? Do you know? I'm really not kidding...I don't know the answer.

In scripture, the emphasis is on what is in our heart. There are passages that talk about motives, and external behaviors, and always, God seems most interested in what's in our heart. One of my favorite passages is found in Psalm 51: Behold, you desire truth in the innermost being, and in the hidden part, you will make me know wisdom.

When I was younger and a seminary student, I was taught that truth is absolute...and pretty much the same for everybody and everything...as years have rolled by, I've come to believe that such an approach fails to comprehend the various shades of experience that comprise truth. One thing I'm fairly certain about though, and that is the existence of truth in our innermost being. Whether we realize it or not, there is something that's driving our behavior and our choices, and like Mr. Raglund suggested many years ago, there is a reason that we do the things we do. I'll never know the "correct" answer to Mr. Raglund's question, but I think it's quite possible that there isn't one correct answer at all...for each of us, there is a truth in our innermost being...and in our choices large and small, it is our innermost truth that determines the things we do.

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