Have you ever had a
friend ask you for advice? I'm sure
almost all of you would say yes. We've all received those texts from our fellow peers saying "can we talk" or "I need help".
If you're anything like me, you probably then agree to meet up with this friend
and talk to them in person because you know how important face-to-face
interactions are. You listen attentively to what your friend has to say, then
you try your best to help them out. Depending on how serious the issue is and
how close the two of you are, the conversation can last anywhere from 20
minutes to 3 hours. Then, once you're finished talking, you two go your
separate ways, back to your own lives, back to your own worlds, probably never
to mention that conversation to one another again.
Now, I'm sure some of you are wondering where I am getting at. Here it is. What I want to focus on isn’t so much the actual conversation you had with your friend, but rather, the 5-10 minute conversation you have with yourself after. Waaait, what are you talking about Tony? Let me explain. If you’re anything like me, I’m willing to bet that almost every time you engage in a deep, heartfelt conversation with another human being, you spend at least 5-10 minutes reliving the conversation in your mind that same day. It could happen right after the person leaves, while you are driving home that night, or in your room before you go to bed. Regardless of when it happens, if the conversation was truly genuine and heartfelt, you will feel mentally compelled to dwell upon it after it is over. You can’t control it. It just happens. There is something special about those long, deep conversations that intrigues you and leaves you with a warm feeling of peace and contentment on the inside even after the conversation concludes. Now, if you think about it, why do those 5-10 minutes “meditations” happen? What causes you to spend an addition 5-10 minutes of your day thinking about something that is in the past rather than continuing on in the present? I’m gonna try and answer that so stay with me.
Now, before I continue, I realize that maybe some of you never go through this and that’s perfectly fine. However, I definitely have gone through this several times, and I can tell you that, for people like me, those 5-10 minutes serve as crucial building blocks for our own character and individuality. Why? Because, by spending time thinking for 5-10 minutes about the conversation you had with your friend, you made a discovery. You discovered that although your friend was the one who wanted to hear your advice and sought to learn something from you, you also learned something about yourself. Maybe, you discovered a certain quality about yourself that you never knew you had. Maybe, you found a specific moral or value that you never realized was so important to you before. Perhaps even, the conversation made you question something about yourself that will lead you to seek self-improvement. Even if it is something small, this discovery will stay with you for the rest of your life, and now that it has been made, you now have a better understanding of who you are as a person. This better understanding of who you are is what gives you that feeling of contentment and peace and strengthens your self-esteem and personality.
So, what in the world does this all mean when you look at the big picture? Here’s my take on it. What this all means to me is that we never completely know who we are as individuals and we most likely never will. It’s a scary thought I know. Yes, we all will reach or have reached a point in our lives where we become our own unshakable, distinct persons, but what I am trying to say is that there will always be room for improvement. There will always be something about ourselves that we don’t know. There are always new discoveries to be made about ourselves with every 5-10 minute conversation we have with ourselves. Think of yourself as a giant, unsolved puzzle. Each day, more pieces to this puzzle are being added through your experiences and interactions, and each day the puzzle (you) is becoming more and more complete. So, here are the million dollar questions: Where do these pieces come from? Where are these pieces kept until they are called to attach themselves to the puzzle and what tells the pieces when it is their time to be added to the puzzle.
When I think about it, the answer is simple: God. God is the ultimate mastermind behind putting the puzzle of our lives together. He is the only one who knows what our complete puzzles look like and, every day, He carefully adds to them. The way I see it, He knows us better than we know ourselves and He wants to reveal a little bit of you to yourself, piece by piece, everyday.
Now, let me try to tie this all up nicely. I mentioned before how, for people like me, spending 5-10 minutes with ourselves dwelling on a deep conversation with a friend can lead us to a better understanding of who we are. So, how does God play a role in this? Easy. There are small things in our lives, such as friendly conversations, that God uses as tools to help us discover who we are. He disguises pieces of the puzzle behind the most basic and smallest of gestures. It is easy for us to overlook these signs and continue to just keep on moving forward in life. But, if we slow down every once in a while and take time to think, we will find that God is constantly working in our lives to help us grow and develop as individuals.
Now, I'm sure some of you are wondering where I am getting at. Here it is. What I want to focus on isn’t so much the actual conversation you had with your friend, but rather, the 5-10 minute conversation you have with yourself after. Waaait, what are you talking about Tony? Let me explain. If you’re anything like me, I’m willing to bet that almost every time you engage in a deep, heartfelt conversation with another human being, you spend at least 5-10 minutes reliving the conversation in your mind that same day. It could happen right after the person leaves, while you are driving home that night, or in your room before you go to bed. Regardless of when it happens, if the conversation was truly genuine and heartfelt, you will feel mentally compelled to dwell upon it after it is over. You can’t control it. It just happens. There is something special about those long, deep conversations that intrigues you and leaves you with a warm feeling of peace and contentment on the inside even after the conversation concludes. Now, if you think about it, why do those 5-10 minutes “meditations” happen? What causes you to spend an addition 5-10 minutes of your day thinking about something that is in the past rather than continuing on in the present? I’m gonna try and answer that so stay with me.
Now, before I continue, I realize that maybe some of you never go through this and that’s perfectly fine. However, I definitely have gone through this several times, and I can tell you that, for people like me, those 5-10 minutes serve as crucial building blocks for our own character and individuality. Why? Because, by spending time thinking for 5-10 minutes about the conversation you had with your friend, you made a discovery. You discovered that although your friend was the one who wanted to hear your advice and sought to learn something from you, you also learned something about yourself. Maybe, you discovered a certain quality about yourself that you never knew you had. Maybe, you found a specific moral or value that you never realized was so important to you before. Perhaps even, the conversation made you question something about yourself that will lead you to seek self-improvement. Even if it is something small, this discovery will stay with you for the rest of your life, and now that it has been made, you now have a better understanding of who you are as a person. This better understanding of who you are is what gives you that feeling of contentment and peace and strengthens your self-esteem and personality.
So, what in the world does this all mean when you look at the big picture? Here’s my take on it. What this all means to me is that we never completely know who we are as individuals and we most likely never will. It’s a scary thought I know. Yes, we all will reach or have reached a point in our lives where we become our own unshakable, distinct persons, but what I am trying to say is that there will always be room for improvement. There will always be something about ourselves that we don’t know. There are always new discoveries to be made about ourselves with every 5-10 minute conversation we have with ourselves. Think of yourself as a giant, unsolved puzzle. Each day, more pieces to this puzzle are being added through your experiences and interactions, and each day the puzzle (you) is becoming more and more complete. So, here are the million dollar questions: Where do these pieces come from? Where are these pieces kept until they are called to attach themselves to the puzzle and what tells the pieces when it is their time to be added to the puzzle.
When I think about it, the answer is simple: God. God is the ultimate mastermind behind putting the puzzle of our lives together. He is the only one who knows what our complete puzzles look like and, every day, He carefully adds to them. The way I see it, He knows us better than we know ourselves and He wants to reveal a little bit of you to yourself, piece by piece, everyday.
Now, let me try to tie this all up nicely. I mentioned before how, for people like me, spending 5-10 minutes with ourselves dwelling on a deep conversation with a friend can lead us to a better understanding of who we are. So, how does God play a role in this? Easy. There are small things in our lives, such as friendly conversations, that God uses as tools to help us discover who we are. He disguises pieces of the puzzle behind the most basic and smallest of gestures. It is easy for us to overlook these signs and continue to just keep on moving forward in life. But, if we slow down every once in a while and take time to think, we will find that God is constantly working in our lives to help us grow and develop as individuals.
“He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also
in much” (Luke 16:10)
