Bumping Into Myself

I remember in college taking one of those cherished afternoon naps. You know the ones which left you somewhere between a deep sleep and a deep coma. Although when I awoke it was not like waking from a deep coma, but more like awaking from an amputation surgery.

I fell asleep with both my arms behind my head, so that when I awoke both my arms and the back of my head had fallen asleep, leaving absolutely no sensation or feeling whatsoever in those areas. My feelings of refreshment from a nice nap quickly turned to amusement when I realized I could not feel my arms, nor could I find my arms.

After a brief period mixed with panic and amusement, I happened to locate my arms. I managed to get one free and and when the blood returned, I used that arm to feel around my body for the other one. Once I found the other, virtally dead arm, I raised it above my face as I lay on the bed pondering the actual poundage of my appendage. Upon my pondering I lost my grip and my virtually dead, seemingly dismemebered arm dropped and struck a blow to my face. What a way to wake up!

I believe the altercation between my arm and my face mirrors what happens when we have conflicts with others. We have run-ins with others and conflict occurs. We bump into one another in life which can result in a simple annoyance to a significant realtional rift. However, when we bump into one another in life, I believe we are simply bumping into ourselves. When we have altercations with one another, we are actually have an altercation with ourselves. We need to wake up and realize that much of our conflicts with others are due to conflicts within ourselves more than with those around us.

I believe this is what Jesus Christ was referring to when he talked in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 7 verse 3. Jesus talked about the "beam" (dokos) in our own eyes. This beam exists in our eye, yet we think we are so clearly seeing the speck of saw dust in the eyes of others. It's hard to believe that a person can walk around with a huge beam in his/her eye without noticing it. But, I never thought I could lose my own arms while they were still attached to my own body. Just like my arms were dead to me upon waking, I can be so dead to this huge beam in my own eye.

This blog is devoted to taking the beams out of my eye through honest personal examination which will lead to life transformation. Feel free to join Dokosology, the on-going study of the beam in your eye. I look forward sharing and interacting with you.