I sat down to write, but something wasn’t right.

Much of my writing life subsisted on the MacBook Pro that I happily carry almost everywhere with me. That said, I was spending less and less time at my desk with my trusty old iMac. The fruit of day-to-day life had begun to pile up.  Elbow room was stolen by  several of the volumes of Systematic Theology I had used and refused to replace on my bookshelf. My change bowl had filled with receipts. Bills, wedding invitations, notes and magazines stood in their own piles of long forgotten intention. I couldn’t write in this mess.

It was time to get my neat freak on.

I placed bookmarks in open books and magazines as I moved them to bookshelves. I didn’t remember what I wanted in them before, but I figured I’d save the pages in case I ever remembered. I cracked open the checkbook and began wading through receipts. Immediately, I lamented the amount of my income that had been devoted to Starbucks. Then came the note pile. Inspiration strikes at the least convenient times. I keep a stack of note cards and a pen in by backpack. I keep notes on my phone, I sometimes have to write them on my arm. Once they’ve all landed on some sort of paper, this is where they live.

Topping this pile is an old digital camera that I’ve kept in hopes of its eventual revival. Water got to it on one of my last trips and as a result, memories were trapped inside. I knew I’d never be able to use it again, but until I had a replacement, I clung to the piece of technology. It was no longer a camera, it was a silver paperweight with buttons.

★                     ★                     ★

“You’re more alive, more concerned, more sensitive, more reverent, more human, more passionate, more responsible.”

(2 Cor. 7:11- The Message- emphasis added)

Keeping it simple, Paul’s first letter to the church at Corinth pissed them off, as he explained some changes they all needed to make. The man found himself having to defend his leadership when he wrote the second epistle to the church that gave him more trouble than any other. Even from a distance, he had gone through a lot with people he clearly loved. At one point, we find him explaining something positive that had come about in their hard times. Virtue had clearly come out of the mix, but so did humanity.

God made humans exactly how he wanted us to be. We jacked it up and basically, ended up like my camera- not necessarily useless, but not functioning in a way we were intended to. So many people grow up, accustomed to this and don’t understand what they should be or how they should act. Fortunately, God never gives up on us and even if we end up sitting on a stack of papers for a while, He has the ability to fix us. To help us become more human, not less.