I want to be clear.

     Being clear means you intentionally choose to take action expecting certain results.  Mainly that someone will hear you.  What's the use of being clear when no one is listening or hearing what you have to say.  As we state our truth we face the fact that people can choose to not care.  Of course there are worse situations.  Perhaps people will listen and/or take necessary action in support or opposition to your stand.  In either case we make the process of communicating loaded with different emotional and physical interaction.
     I hate being misunderstood.  I'm sure you do also.  It's not easier to live misunderstood than understood.  Some days I am more adamant about being heard and respected even if I am wrong.  Some days I am saddened by having yet another messed up project or dream flushed down the toilet.  Other days I am angry and want results now.  Something that most people will not or cannot give. 
     Today my plate is full and beginning to overflow with anxiety and other emotions.  This is because yesterday and the day before I didn't state my truth clearly.  I can live with all kinds of responses from people well intentioned or not.  What I cannot live with is no response and interaction.  Whether that be doctors, friends or even my wife.  People who are deemed to be important in my life with vital functions need to step up to the plate and take a swing.  Whether they hit the ball or not isn't important.  It's important that they stepped up and took the swing whether or not the ball was hit. 
     Jesus asked us to engage the truth and "it will set you free."  I believe that and hope you do too.  When we engage Him as the Truth, we are set free from our lives of sin.  It's when we take our eyes off Him and apply our expectations of Him on others that we run into problems.  People are not God.  Well, except for Jesus.  But then he is God.  What is the truth that will set me free?  Where does it come from and where does it lead to?  Why is it so difficult to obtain clarity in the believers life? 
     Most often there are bound to be those in our lives who pervert the "truth" and the expectations associated with the truth.  Why do this if they didn't want life to be about them?  Well, how about me?!  When is it my turn?  Oh, that's right, I need to put God and others first.  Then somewhere, somehow I will have my needs met.  People shouldn't have to beg to have their needs met.  Nor should people have to give up dreams in order to have someone else's dreams met.  Whose truth?  What truth?
     Making a complex statement clear is difficult as so much of the argument is inside of me grasping for words to explain what clarity is to me.  So, my argument is a plea more than a request.  Please listen to me.  Please hear my dream.  Please listen to and feel my hurt.  Please be there to sit quietly with me when I'm in pain.  Please be Jesus to me. 
     Please be Jesus to me.  Hmmm...that's a very good place to have beginnings and endings.  Have I been Jesus to others?  I know there were times in my life where I wasn't Jesus to those around me.  Selfish motive kept me taking more than giving.  That's the crux of the problem.  Being heard and cared for isn't about clarity with others at all.  Being heard and cared for is clarity of who I am and what I am doing in my world to bring Jesus to others around me. 
     God tells us in the Bible that those who believe in him will have eternal life.  That's pretty clear.  God tells us that it's better to give than receive.  That's pretty clear too.  God tells us that no matter what he loves us.  Clearly clear.  Our needs (not wants) are already taken care of as we traverse this planet doing His will.  Clear once more.  Yet, when I try to have clarity outside of my relationship with God I end up frustrated or misunderstood.  Maybe it's important that I stay out of the equation.  Let God deal with the issues and people who float into and out of my life.  So, as long as I am relying on God, there is no other need for clarity.  Instead of "I want to be clear."  The statement is "I want to be Jesus to others."  It's not me that I desire to be heard.  It's Jesus.  It's always been about Jesus.  Am I clear?