Why do we fall, Bruce? -- Thomas Wayne on rescuing his son after he fell into a cave. ...so that we can learn to pick ourselves up again. Im really bad at handling large groups of people. Private, one-on-one encounters I can usually manage and enjoy; mingling with a family can be an unexpected delight. But throw me into a large, or even medium-sized crowd and after five to fifteen minutes my senses are frayed and Im looking for some dishes to wash. Every smile, every fake smile, every every weeping child and broken heart streams into my senses and competes for attention. When in addition to all of those external influences, a particular social setting also brings my own fears, hopes, dejections and injuries to the foreground, I can so easily become paralyzed. As I was driving home from Will && Arlenes Fourth of July party this evening, the above line from Batman Begins kept playing through my mind. I go to these things, hoping to build and bolster various friendships and contacts, but so often I come out of them feeling like such a failure. I should be able to hold a natural, congeneal conversation with a friend, but even that becomes a monumental task when ten thousand different emotions from within and without are clamoring for consideration. Why do we fall, Nate? I hear the Father ask. He reminds me of all the children at the party, how small their worlds are – playing catch, playing with model cars and planes, asking to learn how to knit like a big person. I remember the mothers, their uncanny ability to condescend to a childs level, to enter into his world and give counsel, to dust him off and put him back in the fray. And I think of my Father, creator of a million million million stars, how He condescends even to me to give counsel, to dust me off and to restore. Why do we fall, Nate? he asks. So that we can learn to pick ourselves up again.
Posted on: Sat, 05 Jul 2014 03:02:39 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015