God-Sparks

I was driving to work this morning, passing a large machine shop that is near our house. They usually have their garage doors open on the shops so that you can see the work going on. This morning, a man was cutting metal (I think, or doing something with it) and sparks were flying everywhere. Fascinating to watch. Kind of pretty. I wondered, though, how he kept from setting himself on fire as the sparks flew around him. It seemed like they had to be landing on his pants and on his shoes.

Chapter 5 of Ortberg's book God is Closer than you Think is the one that we discussed in class this week. In it, he says, "We all hear voices. … Some of them are distorted and destructive; they speak to me thoughts of envy and resentment and fear. Some of them are healthy and strong they speak words of love and truth. The ones I listen to shape my life.”

He was talking about having a beautiful mind -- a mind open to the whispers of God. Our minds are shaped by what we listen to, by who we are close to, by the circumstances of our lives. Sometimes I think that we think we can be near the fire -- near the sparks -- and not be affected by them. I have a feeling that is a wrong assumption.

I've never been a person who easily uses what people euphemistically call "four letter words." That's not a statement of morality or of judgment -- it's just truth that I don't often think to use them. When I was in college, I was often around people who did, so I started doing it, too. It wasn't a deliberate change; it was just sparks. Now, I work in an environment where I am often alone. The people I do see during the day are working -- the sparks here are different than they were in college. It doesn't mean that I never use those "four letter words," but I'm not picking them up from the people around me. Now, when I do, I can only blame myself.

That's a simple and silly example of what I am talking about. If we are often around people who don't speak about God, we will hesitate to do so. If we are near people who speak of God and faith, who walk with God, then we will be drawn closer to Him. Don't you think that as our faith in strengthened in this way, that when we are around people whose faith is not strong, that we can move them closer to God? Can we be God-sparks?

Image came from here.