The Untouchables

The movie, I’d wager, is tucked away on a shelf in my father’s basement. Sitting dusty, somewhere between Goodfellas and the Godfather.  A pistol likely graces the cover and if I recall correctly, Robert de Niro is smoking a cigar.  A crime-drama.  About gangsters.  Well, at least one gangster.  A story of Al Capone, and his catch me if you can like swagger across the USA during the prohibition era.  A game of cat and mouse.  Detectives cracking down on the underground bootleggers. 

I’ve never seen it myself, "The Untouchables", but I gather it was Capone that was the “untouchable”.   Difficult to reach.  Elusive.  Slippery between fingers.  Well versed at hide and go seek.  We have a love/hate relationship with these protagonists.  The bad guys that are so brilliant, they garner respect.  They become so skilled at their evasiveness it becomes attractive.  And the battle between good and evil like a bad cup of coffee, goes out the window.

This drama plays itself out in our everyday lives.  Not the gangster stuff, well, here’s hoping…but this whole untouchable business.  Thinking we can out-run and out-hide God.  Believing we are unreachable because of this…or because of that…Feeling unworthy to bring our messy piles before him in fear of ultimately being cast aside or restricted behind bars with bad food and dodgy cell mates.

I'm really good at giving God parts of myself.  However, if I'm to be honest, I still cling for dear life to areas that I think he perhaps can't handle.  Well....I know theoretically on a brain and theological level he can handle it all, but am I really trusting him to have impact and influence?  To seep through the cracks and the crevaces of my heart?

I imagine how that would be for a married couple to only bring the tidied up bits of themselves to their spouse and how that would foster intimacy.  I imagine the pain and devastation I would feel if my daughter felt she had to hide parts of her true self from me.  Placing myself in the receiving line of a half hidden heart helps me understand more of what I think our Heavenly father wants from us when he says, bring me your hearts.  He wants all of it.  Past, present, and future.  Neurotic moments, bad choices, selfish thoughts.  All of it. Celebrations, joyous experiences, successes, and in the pocket days. Unabashedly every piece.  We have a creator who is the maker and orchestrator of relationships, of intimacy, and he desires to touch our hearts fully and completely. 

"...Give me your hearts.  Come with fasting, weeping, and mourning.  Don't tear your clothing in grief; instead, tear your hearts." ~Joel 2:12