I once visited China and a new friend told me that "nothing is as it seems". She referred to the way China is exploding into prosperity and it appears as if the whole country will soon be wearing hand-made suits and driving expensive import cars. This of course is not true. The country is indeed prospering, yet remains a developing country where many people struggle in poverty. Indeed nothing is as it seems. What a healthy point of view. It urges us to look past the outward appearance of people and situation and try to find out what is really going on behind the scenes.
Drawing on the time that I lived in Bolivia, I always love to tell of my amazing shoe-shiner friends who work long hours for a couple bucks a day. It can be very difficult for some of them to pay rent or buy needed medicines or a decent pair of shoes. Our tendency is to feel sorry for someone like this. We figure that anyone with little income, clothing, security, etc. would have a miserable existence. But many of these friends of mine live full of joy and love. It is even possible that these shoe shiner guys are happier with their lives than many of the world's most wealthy, powerful, and influential leaders and citizens, isn't it? Nothing is as it seems.
And that is what this blog is about: exploring, reflecting, and discovering the tension that makes this world such an incredible place. Its about acknowledging that nothing is as it seems and that appearances can be extremely misleading. And finally its about saying that in the midst of tension, there is something, or even someOne that can make sense of all the beauty.
"It was when I was happiest that I longed most...The sweetest thing in all my life has been the longing...to find the place where all the beauty came from."
-Till We Have Faces
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