dailydatewithgod

Venturing into the unfamiliar is not given the credit it deserves.  It is like random words put together.  We easily compare unfamiliar versus familiar as known versus unknown and think we have grasped the distinction.  What we fail to realize is everything about us is steeped in what is familiar.  It is not simply that we know about it.  We live the familiar. Our brains are wired for the familiar.  The goal when approaching the unfamiliar is to quickly and with the least amount of energy possible make it familiar.  Our minds do a lot of leaps and stretching of distinctions to do this survival task.  And again, all of this is baked into our automatic mechanisms we do not realize it.  In fact, often long after the unfamiliar has become familiar do we realize it has happened. We forget how daunting or unusual whatever flavor of unfamiliar we were bracing ourselves to face. God invites us to choose and intend to not only embrace the unfamiliar but to revel in the process.  It wakes us up, it engages our curiosity, it causes us to take in more oxygen and exert more energy.  In other words, it allows us to come alive. Our minds are so focused on making the unfamiliar familiar as soon as possible while our hearts are looking to enjoy all the moments in between.  Our hearts dare to step through each moment of fear and uncertainty.  Our hearts remind us it is not just about reaching the goal of familiarity.  It is equally about expanding how we are familiar with ourselves and our capacities.