What's with the Blog Title?

So my imaginary audience is asking: "What's with the title, 'one lost sock' ?"

Putting away clean clothes a while ago (thanks luv), I found myself thinking about lost socks. We've all wondered where they go...their seeming disappearance is one of those mysteries of modern life.

But for a moment I found myself thinking of how I feel like the one sock, missing it's other half.

I love my wife. We're partners in many things. We work well together (most of the time) and I experience deep gratitude for the ways in which she is strong when and where I am weak, and how well she compliments me in life. I've even become aware of how other people relate to us a couple, as something more than the sum of our parts.

But I've also learned that it is dangerous and unfair to expect her to "complete" me as a human being. Putting her in a position that demands she, as another broken human being, should meet my deepest spiritual and emotional yearnings is highly problematic for both of us.

To recognize that there are limits to my intimacy with her, limits to how she can help my brokenness, and limits to what I can do for her, is both a disheartening and liberating place to arrive at. She is my helper in life, and I am hers. We are not each others' saviors, and we do not ultimately complete each other. We journey together to find our ultimate completeness in the Divine.

She is not my "missing sock". It turns out she is also a lost sock, and we're in this laundry basket together. We all are. (some of my friends would say I'm missing more than a sock, read other entries and judge for yourself)

Yes I know, it's kind of a bizarre metaphor, and probably not the best one (so cheesy in fact that I'll have to make sure any serious writers don't see this). But I make no claims at literary, philosophical, or theological brilliance. It just kind of resonated with me - the sock thing that is. I'm also aware of its limits as a metaphor, so I probably won't write about it again, although that sense of being "lost" is probably a theme that will creep up.

At times I feel the weight of existential loneliness. I voluntarily enter into the suffering of other people on a daily basis, and suffering very often makes us feel alone. Many days, I do not sense God in the midst of this loneliness. I've learned not to give up when my human faculties fail to perceive the reality of God. And although I feel that profound angst when my thoughts and feelings fail, I am learning to stop and look, and listen, and reflect. I am learning that the other sock may not be so far away, and that there are likely reflections hidden in plain sight, if only I learn to perceive them.

So, essentially, I'm one lost sock learning to see, to hear, to perceive, to experience God in the ordinary. I don't expect to be reunited with the other sock any time soon. It is enough for me to find reflections of its presence in the daily, ordinary, mundane things of life. My separation from the other sock is a teacher. In being a lost sock, I'm learning to recognize things about God, things I might not have learned if I weren't struggling to find it. 

My blog is a sort of virtual laundry hamper. (not toilet, so don't dump on me) Other lost socks are welcome, especially if you're looking. Hopefully the discussion will help us all find God a little more clearly in the ordinary things of life.