E is for echo

I am your whisper, fallen
To ears of vanity

Resounding love
Fills your empty tomb

These wretched lips
This wretched body
Knit me back into your womb.

I do not belong to me. You do not belong to yourself. We must understand that we are an extension of God. Both a creation and a dwelling place. Our distance from God is also His presence. It is a holy distance but not a distance of holiness. We are made holy, but we are not God. God is omnipresent and we can never put distance between ourselves and God—Not physical, not intellectual, not emotional, nor spiritual. God is both Holy (separate) and omnipresent (connected). This is not a contradiction. This is miraculous. Understanding this concept as such will usher us into understanding ourselves not distant from God (separate as in born of flesh) but extended from God (born of Spirit) if we are in fact born of Spirit.

Imagine I speak into a void. That void is filled by an extension of a vibration that I create. On a molecular level, I extend myself into that void through the act of creation. Respectively, all that I do is beyond creative, it is fundamentally original. However, originality is not by genius of my own merit, rather it is extended from God for a specific purpose. (let us leave the conversation of predestination and free will aside for now).

1And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. 2For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. 3I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, 4and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.

6Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; 7but we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory; 8the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory; 9but just as it is written,

"THINGS WHICH EYE HAS NOT SEEN AND EAR HAS NOT HEARD, AND which HAVE NOT ENTERED THE HEART OF MAN, ALL THAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM."

10For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. 11For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. 12Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, 13which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. 14But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. 15But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one.

16For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, THAT HE WILL INSTRUCT HIM? But we have the mind of Christ.

(1 Corinthians 2)

With this scripture in mind I will also make note that we as created beings cannot fully understand our origins, nor were we meant to. We are simply asked to do everything in our power to be the most effective extension (vessel, voice, sound messenger, disciple, steward) that we can be with the resources we have been granted. By understanding the principles of our origin, we become more effective messengers, but knowing the ins and outs of God’s miraculous orchestration of things can only be an endeavor to keep us scratching at surfaces. This does not justify our ignorance, but points out God’s infinite depth. As both science and religion has proven; by searching out unsolvable mysteries we are thrown into the fold of knowledge and insight and toward the simple truths embedded within the makeup of created things. Everything points to everything else.

A vital characteristic of extension is the nature of entropy. The echo dissipates over space and consequently, time; fading back into silence.

“Your tongue has made a fool of me!” she shouted at Echo. “Henceforth, your voice will be more brief, my dear! You will always have the last word - but never the first.”

The appearance of originality is one of our greatest misunderstandings and still remains one of our most celebrated attributes. But like echo, we are starved with self sustaining vanity. This is tragically entropic and perpetuated as such. If only Narcissus would look deeper than his own reflection.

Recognizing our origin will help us understand our own self (to see beyond reflection) and once we begin understanding our own origin (and ourselves as extension), we will begin understanding everyone else as extensions of that same origin. This is the beginning of love which binds us together through understanding. Understanding our origin helps us understand our purpose and knowing our purpose is wisdom.

Our purpose always was and always has been to serve God and all of creation. It is our position that has changed. As we are now fallen in nature, the pattern of entropy is perpetual and yet we assume we are moving towards perfection. This is yet another great misunderstanding. The only path to perfection is redemption through Christ’s perfect sacrifice.

“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”
Romans 3:23

I am an echo. Through the Holy Spirit, God extends through me. I cannot make myself perfect or improve upon what God has already created. All I do must fall short of perfection. Once I understand this failure I begin to understand my function and the freedom that I have as an extension of God’s creation.

F is for Failure