Let Him Be

Inception teaser alert (if you haven't seen Inception, this will give some of the ending away, sort of)

Near the end of the movie "Inception," there is a powerful dialogue between Cobbs and Mal. Cobbs is trying to explain to his wife Mal (which is not really his wife, but rather his projection of her that keeps coming back in his dreams) ... anyways Cobbs is trying to explain to Mal that she is not real and that she is merely a projection of his.

He goes on to say that there is no way he could possibly imagine her "in all of her perfection, in all of her imperfection..." he could not imagine her "fully."

She would never again in this life be simply, wholly, purely...Mal.

He realized that he could not stay in his dreams with the projection of her because a she was not truly there. Part of her was missing. The part that made her ... well, her.

At that moment in the film, I nearly lost it.

Because sometimes I do this with others. In real life. I want others to be who I want them to be, rather than just letting them be who they are and and helping them become who it is that they long to become.

When I try to force people to live under my projection of them, I paralyze them (to a degree)...mainly I paralyze my ability to truly invest in them...at the purest level. When I do this, I put myself above them, I am their superior.

When I let people be who they are and enable their development, I instill value and dignity in them. I express to them that who they are is incredible. I help them understand that God has created them beautifully. When I do this, I put myself below them. I express that I am here to serve them. I am saying "We are all in this together."


Also, I sometimes do this with God. At times, I want God to be a projection of mine. I want Him to do what I want...to come through in the way I'd like...to be who I want Him to be...

But the moment God starts doing this, he ceases to be God.

Because God is better at being God than I could ever project or imagine.

I need to let him be who He is in all of His perfection...purely. To come through in the way He sees best.

And I should be me. Purely, truly, wholly, me.

Embracing Fear

I am afraid at times.

What is it about failure that scares me; that scares us so much?

So I have this idea of something experimental and noble that I want to do. But then right away, fears creep in. "What if it fails?" And often even these thoughts are at times enough to prevent me from pursuing this experimental idea.

Its almost as if I think people are going to think less of me for trying something honorable. I don't know why this is...I mean, really. If someone looked down upon you or I for doing something virtuous (and possibly failing), well, that person should really find something to better do with their time. And are those the opinions that I should really care about anyways?

So often though, the idea of failure and being looked down upon is paralyzing and prevents me from executing something inside of me that longs to come out; longs to experiment; longs to expand possibility and potential in the lives I encounter.

Because I have this idea. An idea that hopes to express and advance the reality that people are worth believing in. And this year I'm going to engineer this idea. I'm going to experiment, risk, potentially fail...

But I can't live any longer without trying.

What idea is there inside of you that needs to happen in 2011?

361 days and counting. I'm starting now.  Because I won't do tomorrow that I'm not already doing today.