I don't connect with all Christians I meet.
I think this is the strangest thing because if we are all bathed and renewed in the Holy Spirit then why wouldn't we connect? More on this in a moment...
Mostly this realization has caused me to deeply value meaningful Christian friendships. In fact, it was you, a handful of my friends, that were the first to know of this blog. I feel safe revealing my deeper thoughts to you because I experience spiritual resonance with you.
What is spiritual resonance? This is probably a term somebody else has already invented but I promise you, I didn't know about it and I don't want to know about it because I want to claim it for my own purposes. Spiritual resonance is the feeling of transparency and authenticity I feel when I communicate with you about our world views as Jesus-followers. We understand each other. We may have different experiences and walks in life but we know that we are reading from the same Book and drinking from the same Spirit. We have different interests and personalities and goals in life and family demographics and we are heavenly siblings already; we have a glimpse of heaven and God's Glory on earth now because God has put you in my life.
Now why is it that I do not have spiritual resonance with every Christian?
1 Corinthians 12? Am I a hand? Eyeball? Ear? Hair follicle? Do I get along with you because I am the finger and you are the palm? Maybe I don't understand the eye so I don't perceive this authenticity and transparency.
Genesis 3? Is our separation from God the culprit? We are fatally flawed. Maybe yours & my flaws are conveniently aligned in such a way that they don't interfere with our appreciation of each other in Christ. In the case of uncomfortable acquaintances, our flaws are conveniently misaligned, and our faults cause us not to be transparent or authentic.
Time seems to change spiritual resonance. I have found that once I have it, it doesn't go away. And, I didn't have spiritual resonance with you from the first, but I do now. I didn't seek it consciously. Surely God orchestrates this wonderful blessing, in the time and way that gives you and I our greatest sense of Him in each other.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Spiritual Resonance
Posted by Theo at 11:44 PM
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2 comments:
Interesting that you would choose resonance as your term of art. I like it, much like you use fidelity. You seem to have an interest in expanding the use of adjectives associated with music/sounds to other areas.
I think the resonance you refer to is an interesting blessing that my wife reminds me is not often found and we may tend to take for granted. It seems that having the time to commit to someone, the energy to stay the course, and the opportunities to spend the time make it appear quite difficult outside of specific times in ones life like growing up, college, or shared work like experiences. I guess a follow on to your question would be if there is a minimum time limit required to determine this resonance and if women are better able to find a relationship that resonates or if they actually have fewer frequencies making the statistical chances of finding a match more likely...
I find a very short supply of people who resonate in San Antonio, it is interesting however, using your term of art, that much like you can simulcast on guard VHF 121.5/ UHF 243.0, that perhaps there are allowances for resonance with our wives...
I don't know if time is a factor for resonance. For you and I, I think it was not common experience or our time in the same squadron - it was when you amplified the role of Jesus in your life. Then, instantly, there was resonance. Alternatively, I have another friend with whom I have worked on and off for the last 8 years, he and I both Christians from the start, and I don't sense that solid click even after all this time. And that includes some very serious and personal men's accountability group that he and I were in.
I also have found people with whom I spiritually resonate in short supply. Again, I wonder if it is a personality thing or a God thing.
It's funny that you noted my use of sound adjectives for my descriptions. Just in the last paragraph I used two, and they just seem most appropriate.
I don't think I get your last part about simulcast and resonating with our wives. Certainly from the outside, it seems that there must be a lot of people who "resonate" and thus they get married, but perhaps they don't "spiritually resonate" and this is the reason the marriage doesn't last in the event that the "personality resonance" fails.
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