Your Two Cents

"Can't they just shut up already?? I mean, can't they tell everyone just wants to move on with the discussion?"

You're in a group setting and that person gets their chance to talk, or they push their way in, and they just keep talking and talking and talking. They are telling their opinion about something, talking about their experience, but they just keep going and going without much of a point, except to talk about themselves.

You know a person like that. You are probably thinking of them right now.

And if it's in church it's even worse! You feel bad for even thinking it because it would be so rude and we should be loving towards everyone, even this person. But why can't they just take the socially appropriate amount of time to share their two cents? And not the whole five dollars!!

How often have we stopped to ask why they keep going on and on?

The more I read John Elderedge's books (Wild AT Heart, Captivating, The Sacred Romance) the clearer it becomes is that we have issues. In some way we've been hurt and neglected. We all try to find ways to cover up that pain and make sure it never hurts us again.

But... our heart is cruel and continues to cry out for love even when we try to stuff it down. We tell it to shut up. There is no love in the way you want it. Deal with it. And maybe for a while it is quiet, but in the middle of the night, in the silence after a movie, the times when you take a step back and look at your life.

Your heart lets out a quiet cry. "I want love. I want to be known."

And how do we fulfill the longing?? People. Things. We find ways to get some inkling of that feeling.

Now how does this tie in with the guy in the group that won't shut up? Indirectly, behind ALL THOSE WORDS he's saying "Look at me. Listen to me. I want to share myself. I can see you're trying to tell me to stop, but when I do I'll be ignored again. Now you're frustrated so now you will ignore me on purpose. No, I won't stop. I want to keep this moment."

One of the Dibor, Mike, was really shy. He came to Dibor and everyone assumed he was an introvert. But as God asked him to step out the more he talked. And believe me, he talked. Sometimes in discussions when someone else started talking he would butt in. We realized at some point, this kid is an extrovert. He loves talking and sharing his thoughts with people. He just didn't believe what he said had any worth.

Sometimes it was annoying, but for the most part I completely understood what was going because the same thing happened to me. In school I felt like no one cared about me. I felt ignored, disliked. So I sort of closed myself up. But when I got the chance to show myself I could go on forever. The more God healed me and showed me I was valuable the more I kept talking.

Inside it was like over the years what I had to say got bottled up instead of tossed to the side. All that desire of wanting to be heard, to be known, just bursted out of me when I got me chance to talk. Sometimes I would say things in a longer way than what needed to be said, not because I needed an excuse to talk longer but because I hadn't practiced talking as much as I needed.

So please post a comment. How have you been hiding? How long have you been hiding? I want to see you.