souldare

To answer before listening—(Proverbs 18:13a NIV)

I like to ask questions. But sometimes, I’m too distracted to really listen for the answer. Or if I’m really honest, I may ask  a question with an answer already in my mind. To me one of the safest places to ask questions is in my journal.

I have been pondering the basic questions. Those one word questions posed to gain understanding of a story, or even a situation. Who? What? Where? When? How? Why? These questions remind me of the detective stories I watch on TV. The investigator needs to know the who, the where, the when, the what, the how and the why. The why usually leads him or her to the solution of the crime.

I shared yesterday that I was struggling with some sort of spring angst, that led me to sadness. And today, I was wondering if asking myself some questions in my journal might help me process this undefined grief. 

Then I thought, why not blog about these musings? So here I am with six basic question words and one surprise question, which I’m going to save for the last post.

This is how the series looks from my view:

For the next seven weeks, I will pose one of the questions. I might research the meaning of the actual word used for the question and see if it’s origins shed any light on why these questions are part of our existence. It will be like going on a treasure hunt together. I imagine interaction, so if you find out something interesting or have an experience with the question of the week, I invite you to share it via the comments or on twitter or instagram using #7questions. That way we can share our discoveries!

I will plan to post some thoughts about the question on Mondays, then later in the week on Wednesdays, I’ll  share any insights we’ve gathered. If you want to guest post on the question of the week on a Thursday, then let me know at kelrohlf@souldare.com.

I will post prompts and maybe even some ideas for ways to interact with the question using visual arts, like collage, photos or sketches. Since today is a Monday, I will pose the first question tomorrow.

What do you think? You ready to tackle some important questions, and see what kind of quest unfolds?