The ‘N’ word
Proverbs 18:21 (New International Version)
21) The tongue has the power of life and death,
and those who love it will eat its fruit.
It’s funny how one word can have so much meaning, and so little letters-IF. It’s funny how one word can turn your world upside down-CANCER. It’s funny how one word can describe how we feel about everything from our child to our favorite restaurant-LOVE. Its funny how one word can cause us to freeze up, lose everything, and live alone with nothing but our pride-NEED.
Every morning as I drive to work I spend that time talking to God. I tell him how much He means to me, how much I love Him, how much I appreciate Him and then I choke. It’s almost like I have to swallow before I can let the words “I NEED YOU” come out of my mouth. I don’t know why those three words are so hard to say, but they paralyze me every morning. Even after 6 months of morning chats with God, those words still don’t roll off of my tongue with ease. To say “I love you” is to tell someone how you feel about them, but to say “I need you” is to admit that you have a weakness or a flaw and that you need help - - - - and that’s the dangerous part of the N-word. It forces you to open up. It puts you front and center in the line of fire. You have to become transparent and have full disclosure in the sight of another person.
Lisa and I were talking the other day about how the forbidden three words use to be “I LOVE YOU”, but people use it so freely now it has almost lost its value to the world. You can find a million cards that express how much you love someone, but only a hand full that says you need them. The Bible says that pride comes before a great fall. What circumstance or situation in your life could be drastically changed, if you stepped outside of your comfort zone and said what was really in your heart? Where would the woman at the well be, had she not opened up to Christ Jesus? The blind or the lame man?
See, to tell someone we need them requires us to give up apart of ourselves. It requires us to place our heart, fears, and trust solely in another person. For those who have always had to survive or protect what was theirs this concept is almost incomprehensible to fathom. For those who have never had someone to lean on AND not be let down, the act of needing is no longer apart of your DNA. One thing I love most about Obama, is that he is not afraid to say “hey, I may have the highest position an American can have, but I still need you. We all need each other.”
We have all been through trials and tribulations in our lives that have given us the turtle complex. We have formed this impenetrable hard shell around our very soft and vulnerable being, to the point that no one can touch the essence of who we really are. In the story of the turtle and the hare, the hare is always the victorious one because the hare is faster. Just maybe the only thing slowing the turtle down is the heavy shell of hurt, disappointment, doubt, fear and the past that the turtle is still carrying around.
We all need somebody. We all need each other- - - -whether it’s for a shoulder to cry on, or for someone to share a laugh with. No one person can do it all, but God the Father. God never intended for man to be alone, which is why He created a helpmate for him. And even though the story of Adam and Eve ends in marriage, I’m simply talking about God seeing the NEED in Adam to have companionship. God NEEDS us to let go and trust Him to bless us with someone who will be our helpmate. So today let go of the cat that has got your tongue and tell the people who matter to you how much you NEED them in your life before it’s too late. You can’t grab a hold of your future, with closed fist still holding on to your past- - -we NEED to let go.
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