Grander

So what if you didn’t have to throw the box out all at once, but instead you could stretch the size of the box? Would you do that?

“But what if it wasn’t a crisis but actually an awakening? I had to allow myself the space to let all the questions flood in even if I didn’t get answers. Answers just weren’t the point. The point was the question.”

What if there was better?

Does that feel like “the grass is greener on the other side” mentality?

Does that make you feel like you aren’t able to be content with what you already have or know?

Does that feel like you’re testing the limits of what actually is?

Then that’s your programming.

Humans are wired for design and creativity. Yet, religion and cultural contexts often confine us to pre-set parameters. Why does this happen? If we are wired to create, why are we also drawn to confine?

I think it’s fear.

We are afraid that creativity will stretch us beyond our knowledge. And, to be honest with you, I hope it does! Even our brains were designed to keep expanding and learning. So why do we keep falling into the trap that we should only create to the boundaries of our knowledge?

Sometimes boundaries are really good for us. The limits create opportunity to think differently and even problem solve within the confinement. It forces us to use what we have in the space we are in. This can often be how we break through to amazing innovation. But that innovation eventually creates a then bigger box to work within. Our creativity is constantly working to out think the box.

So what if you didn’t have to throw the box out all at once, but instead you could stretch the size of the box? Would you do that? Would you take one square inch at a time and be ok? That’s what most of us do. You may be one of the smaller percents who can say “the box doesn’t even exist”. I wasn’t one of those. I took one square inch at a time until….the box didn’t exist.

My first square inch started with one question.

What if God was more good than I’ve previously thought he was or had been taught to understand him to be? (and yes…at the time God was always referenced as a “he” for me.). Do you see how small and how big that question is? It’s small because I kept the box in tact. But it was big because it meant that God might be very different than I had thought up to that moment.

It might mean that God actually loved ALL of us.

It might mean that God didn’t actually like war.

It might mean that God didn’t believe in hell.

It might mean that God wasn’t mad at me for my “sins”.

Do you see how one seemingly small “what if” uncaged a theological crisis? But what if it wasn’t a crisis but actually an awakening? I had to allow myself the space to let all the questions flood in even if I didn’t get answers. Answers just weren’t the point. The point was the question.

So let me ask you this….

What do you fear by asking the question? Take a moment before you read on to sit with that. Find your answer with all the honesty you can allow yourself. What do you fear?

I was afraid that my whole world would fall apart. I was afraid God wouldn’t exist if my questions led me to answers that didn’t align with my current religious understanding of God. So I had to flip my fear into hope. What if my question led me to a god that was actually far more good than anything I had known yet? Was that worth the exploration? YES! I wanted more good.

My friend, what “what if” question are you asking? What are you afraid of by asking it? And what could be a surprisingly grander outcome because of your question?

Ask it. Ask the question. Start a journey towards grander and let’s see what creativity you unearth. I’m telling you…the world needs more of THAT!

~ Jess