If a tree falls in the forest......

"We lose our right to the Lord’s Spirit and to whatever authority we have from God when we exercise control over another person in an unrighteous manner. Compulsion builds resentment. It conveys mistrust, and it makes people feel incompetent. Learning opportunities are lost when controlling persons pridefully assume they have all the right answers for others."

Sometimes life has a way of giving answers before the questions are even asked. Whether we hear the answers is solely dependant on how well we hear life all around us. It also rests on the ability we have to look within ourselves. I heard the roar of irony this weekend and have great friends to thank for giving me the muse to hear and reflect on the words we shared.

What am I on about?

I went to Kelowna to help a friend.I spent the weekend with two souls that connected in song. The rare remaining members of the church that will have anything socially to do with me. I drove to Kelowna to help out a life long friend with a sole mate who on the grand scale of things had faced more than I ever could have survived. It was a wonderful weekend.

We laughed, cried, found joy and worked hard and through it all we felt solace in each others company.

On the last evening we broached the inevitable subject of my disaffection. I am very closed to discuss  ALL the reasons I left the church but to those reasons that are most obvious I am willing to bend and have my ear bent on the subject. They spoke about this past conference and the talks that seemed different with a whole new focus for members to spend more time on being nice and loving and compassionate and less on rules or demands or expectations . They read a few words and laughed about some of the more humorous talks and then asked, did it matter that the leaders are starting to recognize that there are members like me, so disillusioned by ill treatment. I hymned and haaaad and said, sometimes words come just too late.

Do they?

Is it too late?

If it was just about the way people treat each other I would say maybe, just maybe I could think about trying again. The fact is, however, that there is so much more to my walking away then a group of people called a ward and they way they treat each other. So much more that I choose to let few people in to know.

It was then that K mentioned a talk and gave the quote included in this post. There, the wound rips open and it hurts all over again. Do we really have to go there? Really? Some parts of my past can't resolve, they just seep pain little by little. It hurts enough to notice but is healed enough to live with. They wondered out loud if he (M) would have heard it?

Is there any doubt?

The question Is not if he heard it but whether or not it mattered or if he has any way of knowing it applied to him.

My guess is no.

So, to words unheard and to hearts broken and wounded, the question is answered in the same way you would answer this;

If a tree fell in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?