Tim Knipp, 1/26/14 Based on Emotionally Healthy Spirituality by Peter Scazzero Ch. 4

"Grant Lord, that I may know myself in order that I may know thee." Augustine

Purpose:
     what is the shape
of the empty space
I am 
    made
         to fill?

Socrates decreed: "Know thyself"
and 
         Shakespeare's Polonious
(flawed as he is)
     admonishes his son:
"to thine own self be true..."

Turn the spotlight inward.

(Genesis 3:7 - turn left)

Eyes opened, 
Adam and Eve's 
first response
was
     shame and fear.
Fig leaves sprouted
       to shadow themselves
from
    themselves.
Eyes averted, 
         they chose to hide
from their Creator.
 And I am
 their descendant.

God seeks.
We hide.
A never-ending
         children's game
with eternal
consequences.

Gen. 27
Deception twines itself
    around the truth
in Jacob's life.
The forced blessing -
"what is your name?"
Truth wrestled from the dawn
begins
   a new story.
      A new identity.

Roles
    are by nature
artificial.
Actors slide into another skin
that rubs against 
     their own with each line
and gesture.
         Masters of duality
but
it is a fiction.

(Right turn to John 6:14)

Miracles
seem proof
      of earthly kingship -
the pressure cooker builds
but Jesus sidesteps
       man's agendas,
knowing who He is
and
   why He came.

Love first.
The motivation matters -
eccentricity
is not the goal.
"Be angry and sin not."
Serve love,
not self -
           a balancing act
that takes practice

and risk.