Feeling misunderstood? Join the ranks

(Photo by Idontknowtheworldtoday)

Misunderstood?  Imagine how God feels…  This message on a local church billboard was soon a blur as I went whizzing past it to work one day.

Although the sign disappeared from my rear view mirror in no time, thoughts about it still remain.  It seems as though feeling misunderstood is an epidemic – present within everyone from my dog (who wishes I could know why she doesn't need to eat those gooey vitamins every day), to my neighbor (who claims that anyone who doesn't like opera just doesn't "get" its cultural significance), to me (who readily admits that nothing in this world of smoke and mirrors seems fully comprehensible).

This alienated feeling is so pervasive that Billy Joel once felt impelled to write a song about it.   The Stranger contains a verse that goes partly like this:  Well we all fall in love   But we disregard the danger   Though we share so many secrets   There are some we never tell…

Some secrets "we never tell" because we're afraid to.  Others, however, we're just plain ignorant of.  This is because we understand our own Selves about as little as we understand what others are truly about.

As for understanding God?  Bart Willard of the Christian rock band Mercy Me wrote the words to a poignant song called I Can Only Imagine.  His father had recently died, and Willard was riding a bus in the middle of the night – trying so hard to fathom what meeting the Lord "face to face" must be like.  The lyrics

then pretty much wrote themselves in all of ten minutes.  Here is the opening verse:  I can only imagine what it will be like   When I walk by your side   I can only imagine what my eyes will see   When your face is before me   I can only imagine   I can only imagine…

Resources

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6yQ14TGB8U

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Can_Only_Imagine_(MercyMe_song)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xwzItqYmII

Copyright March 8, 2013 by Linda Van Slyke   All Rights Reserved