Recently some buddies from church and I went on a river trip. I’d never been on an overnight canoe trip, so it was all new—the navigation, the speed, the packing. But what most impressed me was that we had to consider and reconsider the river.

Friday morning, it was up. Way up. It was powerful and flowing so quickly that we averaged about 6 mph without doing anything.

Saturday afternoon, a major dam upriver was closed and the water level slowly fell 6 feet. The river became slow and manageable.

There is a communication theory that claims that we are always putting people into boxes in order to get a sense of mental certainty about them. And, once they’re in that box, it’s difficult to reconsider them.

In the past few years, I have changed quite a bit. And I want you to reconsider the box you put me into. It’s fine that you put me into one! But I want to be reconsidered.

Likewise, I have to reconsider you. The things you struggled with may not be a thing any more. The vices may be gone. The anger, dissipated.

If I make plans about you with the old you in mind and I don’t reconsider that version of you, I may plan in error.

So…I have to reconsider you.

I hope you’ll reconsider me, too.

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RECONSIDER ME//RECONSIDER YOU

[alone] vs. [together]