Curious Kate: Truthseeker Extraordinare

As long as you are proud you cannot know God. A proud man is always looking down on things and people: and, of course, as long as you are looking down you cannot see something that is above you.” ~ C.S. Lewis

CK: Welcome new day. Welcome opportunity to love. Good morning, Papa. ❤

Papa: Good morning, Sunshine. ❤ What a wonderful way to welcome each day.

CK: What can I say? You inspire me, Papa. Our morning chats are the best part of my day. It “sets the tone,” as they say. I leave our visits filled with peace and surrounded by love. What more could a girl want?

Papa: That is quite the compliment.

CK: You know, Papa, when it is just you and I sharing, it seems like the most natural thing in the world. I know I take it for granted sometimes, and I am so sorry about that.

Papa: No need to apologize. You are simply comfortable being with me. You see our relationship as that of father and daughter. Isn’t that part of love?

CK: For sure! Then sometimes, when I imagine telling someone else about our conversations, I get really weirded out. I know Sam understands; nothing about me surprises her. But as much as I love Tom and he loves me, I’m afraid he doesn’t quite get this communication thing, either. I think he feels left out like I have some secret life apart from our lives. I’ve tried to explain spending time with you makes me a better wife and person. Maybe someday he will understand.

Papa: Not all can understand or conceive of such a thing being possible, and that is okay. But why do you feel “weirded out?”

CK: Coffee and chit-chatting with God every morning? I am afraid some would think me a bit of a nut job — at the very least, delusional. Do-do-do-do, do-do-do-do. And honestly, if I didn’t experience it myself, I would be thinking the same thing.

Papa: Katie, what you and I have is very natural. And yet, there are different approaches to find one’s way to me. Yours just happens to be very direct. Besides, does it really matter what others think? There will always be skeptics. Leave them to me. I am used to rejection.

CK: I can’t imagine what it would be like to be you, to have to watch what is happening to your world. And you had such grand plans. But, I also know there are caring and honorable people in this world who are working hard to help others and whose hearts are filled with your love. I just wish more would understand how approachable you are, Papa. I just know things would change.

Papa: Katie, there are many different perspectives about who I am or am not — mostly shaped by life experiences. That’s another discussion for another time. Needless to say, I’ve gotten a bad rap over the millennia. Even today, there are those who think I give them rules to put a damper on their fun. Yet, does a parent make a rule to not play in the street to put a damper on their little one’s fun?

CK: You give us rules to keep us out of trouble. I try to tell that to the kids in my confirmation class. Some understand. Some don’t want to. And there is one kid in there who is a real challenge, as in the challenges almost everything I say. He is like an annoying mosquito buzzing in my ear.

Papa: What goes around comes around…

CK: Are you calling me a mosquito? Really? All I know is when I don’t listen to your advice, there is hell to pay — well not literally, but you know what I mean. I always end up causing some kind of drama or torment for myself or someone else — usually Tom.

Papa: Always? Torment? Aren’t you exaggerating a bit?

CK: Are you kiddin’? Remember the time Tom was out of town for a conference and he didn’t call me back or answer my texts? I all but accused him of wanting to spend time away from me. Before he left, he said I “would have more fun at home spending time with some of my gal pals.” You would think, knowing my husband the way I do, I would just take that at face value, wouldn’t you, as a kind and loving gesture? But oh no, I went down Rejection Avenue.

I left him voice messages and texted him little love notes, and he never got back to me. You can imagine the bats flying around my belfry. You told me not to worry, that there was a logical explanation. But did I listen? Nada.

Long story short (or maybe not, details are important), the poor guy put his phone on mute during a lecture and lost it in the auditorium. He finally got it back right before he left. I can’t imagine what he thought seeing all those hallucinogenic messages right before he came home. At least I didn’t launch into him before he was able to explain.

Papa: He was practicing that speech all the way home. Yet I know what it is like to be put on mute. Some children know I am trying to reach them, but do not wish to hear what I have to share.

CK: Honestly, sometimes I wonder how he puts up with me.

Papa: Love is patient, love is kind.

CK: He does have heartstrings made of steel, that’s for sure. Sorry, I digressed again. Where were we? Ah yes, perspectives. I will take perspectives for $1,000, Alex. (I always wanted to say that). Sorry. How different perspectives see you and the world around them. Wouldn’t it be awesomely cool if we could invent specs that would help us see through the divine perspective, to see the total truth from the top of your holy mountain?

Papa: It would be, but what we really need are spectacles for the heart — a place where my simple and perfect truth can take center stage, rather than the human perspective that can make one blind to that reality.

CK: Blind: blind spot, blindfold, blind alley, blind date. Ick! Went on one too many of those back in the day, but I get your point. Sorry. So how do we go about unblinding our hearts?

Papa: What has been your experience?

CK: Me? Well, that is simple: coming to you for answers and advice. Actually, that was an act of desperation as I remember it. Anyway, taking time to meditate on your word, celebrating the Sabbath with family and friends, and most of all, writing letters to you. I don’t even know what inspired me to do that.

Papa: The Holy Spirit, of course. And what have you learned from our visits

CK: All kinds of things. One being, seeing only one side of any issue is being short-sighted, that even when we don’t understand the whole picture, you do and it is best to trust you — like the whole weekend with the girls incident.

Papa: Back to the spectacles. Where can the perspective of truth be found or not found, as the case may be?

CK: Not found in human perspective alone, that is for sure. Sacred Scripture is a great place to start with, although sometimes the kids will call me out on what seem like contradictions in the gospels. Personally, I can read a passage and something might seem meaningful and important one time and seems to be written just for me, and the next time, I get a whole new message from a different part of the passage.

Papa: And why do you think that is?

CK: How we are looking at it? Different perspectives?

Papa: Very good! So are different perspectives a bad thing?

CK: Not if the information gleaned gives a truer picture of the divine reality.

Papa: Whoa, that was deep. So how can Katrina Taylor take this learning and use it for practical purposes? Let’s say you wanted to help your young people formulate a plan to find truth by working together despite their differing points of view?

CK: Da, da, da, da, da da, da. Formulating an answer. Waiting, waiting…

OK, I got it. What is, using role-play to show how each person can have a different perspective of the same incident? How one can learn wisdom not only from you but by being open to learning from one another’s experience and wisdom? Explore the commonalities to seek the truth. We simply need to be open-minded to the possibility that our perspective is a part of the bigger picture.

Papa: Excellent. Now, what do you think is a major ingredient in becoming more open-minded?

CK: Humility?

Papa: And how do you define humility?

CK: Cell phone? Dictionary app? Here we go. Isn’t technology great? Hmm, actually it seems humility is not really seen in a very positive light, I am afraid.

Papa: Really? How do you mean?

CK: Here humility is defined as lack of pride, lowliness, meekness, submissiveness, self-abasement. Really? Self-abasement? That’s pretty much the opposite of what is needed to make one’s way to the successful top of this culture.

Papa: What have you learned about the value of being humble?

CK: Well as an example, a few years back, Tom was up for a big promotion and it was between him and his friend, Harry. They had been working on a big project developing some kind of award-winning software. Then a rumor of a big promotion came along, and all of a sudden, Mr. Harry Jekyll turned into Mr. Harry Hyde. Anyway, he started bragging himself, up saying he had done most of the work and such. And although Tom was really hurt by Harry’s actions, he didn’t say a word.

I told him to defend himself, but he said he was not going there. At the time, I was really torqued about it. It would have meant a rather substantial raise, and we could have finally gotten out of our starter home. But he said that wasn’t his personality, and he could not do what Harry did — badmouth someone to get to the top. Long story short, when one of the top dogs at Tom’s office found out what was going on, Tom got the promotion and Harry got the boot.

And I remember being so proud of Tom. He really is a very special man. He is so caring, always putting others first — especially me. When we deliver Meals on Wheels, it is more than just delivering meals to him. He loves engaging in conversation, which is strange since he claims to be an introvert. Maybe he knows what it is like to be invisible sometimes. To me, that is one of the greatest definitions of humility: putting others first.

Papa: But what a great story to share with your kids about humility — how much you respect your husband for this quality and how it gives him a firm foundation on which to build his life.

So let’s connect the dots here — what you have shared in not a few words.

CK: I know, I was rambling, but if I don’t say something when it filters through my brain or write it down, it disappears into the dark abyss never to be heard from again.

Papa: Connecting dots, please.

CK: Umm, Tom’s humility is part of his perspective on what it means to be your child? By taking your commandment to love into his everyday life.

Papa: It is the humble of heart who take my rules for what they are — a way to find the kind of joy and peace you feel each morning you spend with me.

CK: Dots connecting. Being open to your wisdom and love helps us to be our best self, whether by hearing your voice or letting one be led by your Spirit to love one another.

Papa: So what is humility?

CK: A most powerful virtue.

Papa: And even though you can be a little irreverent at times …

CK: Just a part of my dazzling personality.

Papa: As I was saying, even though you can be a little irreverent at times, deep within your heart is a well of humility.

CK: How can one be in your presence and not be humble? The graces that come with humility are priceless.

Papa: The true meaning of humility?

CK: Opening one’s heart to the voice of God with the confidence that you will reach out to us with love and guidance and truth; we are never on our own.

Papa: Now go into your day, taking all the love I have poured into that caring heart of yours and make a difference in your little corner of the world.

CK: For you, Papa, anything. Love you!

Papa: Love you too, my precious child.

Point to Ponder: What would the world be like if we focused on being open-minded and respectful of those different from you?

Challenge: This week try to listen to others with your heart, instead of your mind, not formulating opinions or challenges just listening and see what effect it has on you and those you listen to.

“…if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”  2 Chronicles 7:14