On Not Being Understood

It is hard to speak everyone's language. It's hard to tell everyone what they want to hear in the verbiage in which they want to hear it.

Someone asked me over my Christmas vacation if I was a part of a socialistic commune of sorts. What? It took me a second, but I finally came to understand that because I was heavy on words and phrases like 'sharing meals' or 'living life together' or 'community,' certain people were mistaking me for a cult leader. Strange. I never thought my words would sound that way.

I guess you come to a place where you realize that you cannot take everyone along in your journey. Not that you must deliberately leave people behind, but they cannot necessarily connect in the ways you had hoped they could. I guess I thought that through clear communication, people could understand where you are going and what is important to you and why... I was wrong.

In the same way that you cannot truly understand another country/religion/idealology without actually 'being in it' and attempting to fully experience it, I think others cannot fully understand you without living life with you, going through the experiences with you, participating rather than watching.

I guess this seems pretty common knowledge, but tonight I got a shock of reality in dealing with this. I am sad that not everyone will understand why I do what I do, but I do take slight solace in the historical fact that many inspirational people have been oft misunderstood only later to be made into saints. I doubt many will find my life to be magnificent, but I am hopeful that the God who has birthed the hope for the reconciliation of creation within me will bring it to full completion.