andi oakes

On the way home from my local Starbucks this morning, I had an unfortunately stereotypical encounter with a white van, which cut me up on a roundabout.  As it veered in front of me in order to beat me to the exit, and I was left staring at the back of the van in question, I had the opportunity to see the logo of the company it represented and the service they provided alongside all their necessary contact details; and one simple thought walked with a huge placard across my mind:

Perception is so crucial to how we communicate with each other: because, as the old saying goes...actions speak louder than words.

As far as I was concerned this morning, the driver of the white van was making a very clear statement to me: his journey is more important than mine - and in that moment the driver unwittingly alienated me.  

Now...his journey may indeed have been much more important than mine.  How do I know he wasn't rushing his pregnant wife to the hospital and didn't have time to apologise?  But I will never know...and that's the point: because I will probably never know, I am left to work with the information I have been given.  All indicators therefore say that the driver considered his mission more important than mine. He considered me to just be another stepping stone along the way.

Companies use this tactic all the time.  Endless uninvited phone calls, constant barrages of emails and electronic spamming to get there messages across.  We now no longer have the choice to look or listen to their messages under our own autonomy, because they are rammed towards us with ever increasing invasiveness; and what they are saying is: listen to me because I am important.  They appear to be doing us a service, but in reality they simply want the sale.

We live in a broken system: it's what the bible refers to as “the world”.  And in this broken system it is about who shouts the loudest or pushes the hardest.  Jesus came to lead us out of this system, and yet, for some reason, we still try to use the same tactics in order to progress our various messages. Even those who genuinely believe what they do will bring benefit to others are trying to use the broken system to advance their “mission”.  The system doesn't work. It never did.  The last few years alone should serve to remind us that the current dominant system we live under is faulty...at every level.  

He described His Kingdom as being like the smallest of seeds that grows to be the biggest tree in the garden. There's a natural pattern to the Kingdom of God: all things grow and are seen in their right time.  There is no forcing, there is no coercing...there is only gentle, irrepressible growth through faith.  

I believe that if I want to grow in the Kingdom of God and as a person...then I must consider how others will perceive me as I intersect their personal journey.  I must respect that journey.  Avoid anything that may say that my journey is more important than theirs.  Avoid using others as stepping stones to my own goals.  For  I would surely discover that, in using the broken systems ideologies to further my life's mission, any gains I make in the broken systems methodology will be temporary and passing: as everything in this realm ultimately is.

Love lasts.  Someone once said: people will quickly forget what you say...but will never forget how you made them feel.