day 1-bleeding out

i am sitting here reading Walk On the Spiritual Journey of U2, and i am struck at the infantile state at which parts of me still reside ( and that is only halfway through the preface). Just these couple of years past, am i able to look beyond he expletives that proceed from a mans mouth and see the wonderful christian brother/sister within. its almost oxymoronic, and would appear so to the legalist child looking on. i was that child two years ago. i could not look past the (pardon me) "shit", "damn", or worse that could come from a persons mouth, to see my brother in Christ beneath (it was, in fact, easier for me to relate and accecpt a pagan who spoke like a sailor because i held them to no higher morality).

i could not understand the relationship with God for all of the rules one must follow to know God. with God it is not the words, it is the heart. it is us understanding the concept that birthed the words and not the letter of the law. don't get me wrong, this is no advocation of living a loose or immoral lifestyle, merely an attempt at a deeper understanding of humankind and his relation to God and one another. i most emphatically believe we are to live a lifestyle in emulation of Christ, but i also understand that we are called to love one another and support eachother as well. for this reason Christ came and preached to the ugly, the lame, and the unlovely so that he might redeem all of us to himself.

that being said, i find that most of us are too consumed with walking within the lines to look up and see the expectant eyes of our lover who is just waiting for us to open up. to look into his eyes and understand the depth and height and width of his love. this is the purpose of our existence-relationship. not rules, lines, and restictions of a moral life, but the reality of an honest, candid relationship with him based on love, truth, and honesty. from this all the other virtues of life and faith flow.