Being Visible...

All the new roommates are in place and we are busy settling into the house, trying to get a feel for each other's moods, tendencies, and preferences. It's almost as if we are silently asking ourselves "Ok, how is this going to be?"

This morning I woke up early to take Jane on her walk. As I was leaving the house I noticed on the kitchen counter a white dry-erase board with the following quote written on it:

Where can I go to be the most visible?

I read it and thought to myself, oh, so we're going to be THOSE kind of roommates. You know, the Christian kind. The ones who leave each other motivating and inspirational messages all around. I was already a little worried it might turn into that, and I am partly to blame. For the past few days while Jane eats her breakfast, I have me a bowl of cereal at the dining room table and use that time to read the Bible. When I finish I leave the Bible on the table, open to the daily passage, because I'm too lazy to close it. I've secretly felt a little ashamed at this, not wanting to be the most "Christian" of all of us. If there's anything I've learned, you want people to know who you are, but you don't want to be considered TOO Christian. Believe you me.

So I saw the note, and with my recent Scripture reading at the table I started to worry. What was next? Will we start going around asking each other how we can pray for them today? Will we have those dreaded accountability times where we share our deepest darkest sins? Are we just a step away from a "Bro" night? Lord God, please don't let it be.

I then began formulating my verbal tirade against the quote, ready to deconstruct the author's presuppositions about being visible. Surely Jesus told us to let our light shine, but didn't he also preach humility and the value of stepping back into the shadows? I had my weapons ready. No one was going to define what kind of roommates we would be without my permission.

And then I realized, "Where can I go to be the most visible," was, in all likelihood, not directed to the reader, but to the dry-erase board itself. Communication is necessary in such a large group, and someone in the house was considerate enough to provide a means for it, and wanted to know how to make it work best.

Just another example of how truly jacked up my mind can be.