Friday, September 24, 2010

Humpty who?

As I strolled down a resplendissant lane called wonderful, I overheard just above me screams of we are undone, we are undone, the “blessed curse is upon us”. I watched the wings of the first break, and as he tried to steady himself loose his loot, lost his balance and fell down to his death. The same happened to the second after him and just as it was about to happen to the third, I saw that a weird looking man with greyish wings, who appeared to be one of their oldest and most decorated member was being released and ordered to seek them all out and annihilate them all completely. It was as if the time set for them to turn against each other was upon them. However, if they were able to exchange their misfortune in time by successfully entering into the household of an unsuspecting family in one accord with one another, they might just be able to keep what they find and thus prolong the inevitable only for a moment longer. Just two doors down the road appeared to be a family, with only two young children in the house. It was a large uniquely located house with many window openings, and not one was locked. I was a bit apprehensive as to what to do, and called out to the inhabitants of the house to find out if there were any adults at home and why their windows were all left unlocked. The children at my behest ran round the house in a bid to lock all the windows they could find and indeed locked them all accordingly. I wasn’t quite sure if they had securely locked them, and thus made up my mind to go in and check. I had barely gone a few steps when I heard what appeared to be a heavy thud coming from the north east section of the house. As we hurriedly made our way there, I found that they were trying to crack open one of the elevated wooden windows by trying to drill nails through it. I realised that if I were to place log pieces over the area where the nails were being drilled in, we might just be able to prevent them from creating enough gap to forcefully enter into the house. And so we retaliated with log for nail, a process that reinforced the sturdiness of the window. They proceeded to change tactics by trying to bull doze their way in. In the instant when they were about to burst it open, did my eyes draw to a study ladder, completely made of wood, which I and indeed we hadn’t noticed was there before. We immediately grabbed hold of it and were able to push it against the window and were able to secure the window. Finally, after several blow out attempts, the intruders couldn’t manage to get in, and in the end ran out of time.

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Phew what a story, but I’m going somewhere with this.

How many times do we see friends, neighbours, strangers in great difficulty and we turn a blind ear. Yeah, you read it correctly, a deaf eye. The Lord Jesus reminded us of the importance of being vigilant [John 10: 10 - The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly] and Peter also reminded us of the fact [1 Peter 5:8 - Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour]. And throughout the bible we have been given examples of the need to be alert [Isaiah 14:12-15; Ezekiel 28:16-17; Luke 10:18]. And yet, many of us are of the view that as long as our world is resplendissant, then all is indeed well in the world. In fact, Jesus told us that in order for us to inherit eternal life we NEED to LOVE LOVE LOVE God and our neighbour (He answered: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbour as yourself – Luke 10:27).

So since we know that the enemy is prowling around looking for families, people to destroy. And since we know that the enemy, our adversary, will try to pick off the weak, the needy, the ailing, those among us who have grown weary and have dropped back, and is always lurking for opportunities to isolate and manoeuvre’s us into positions where he can then attack and deal that blow (Pow). AND since this is a fact and the truth, what are we doing about it? When was the last time you could honestly say, “I got his or her back on my knees in prayer?” Exactly, are we people who genuinely care for one another? Better still as we have been taught in our worker’s class when was the last time we prayed for one another [James 5:16]. Some of us don’t even know the name of the person sitting next to us (am not even pointing an accusing finger I am so among these groups of people, but I digress).

And if you happen to be among those (of us) going through some difficult situation, fear not. Remember what the Lord said to you, that He is near to those that call Him – [Psalm 145:18-19 - The LORD is near to all who call upon Him, To all who call upon Him in truth. He will fulfil the desire of those who fear Him; He also will hear their cry and save them]. So we are not alone. We also need to remember that God has indeed put a wall of protection around us, so there is a limit to how the enemy can toy with us (Job 1:6-10); and that God allows it all as an instrument for our elevation. To get to the top or a next level you need a ladder, a stair case, a device of some sort. A mountain is a high place because it comes after a long low area of land, or else everything will be on a plane, and the mountain will just be another level place. There needs to be a valley, a long sunken area before getting to a mountain. So also, to get to the next level, a level higher than our current position there are some tests we need to meet and overcome. Have you tried climbing a mountain before? I Have, and trust me it isn’t easy at all. During one of my earlier experiences, I was worn out, my entire waist was aching, I was out of breath and out of shape, and I wanted to give up every moment. Infact if I wasn’t with the group of people I went with, I would have happily given up a third of the way up and just sat down. And just as my friends helped me overcome the long walks to get to, up and over “Monte Bondone”, “Monte Mezzocorona” and countless others, that is what God does for us during our long low area walk and up the mountain of life. In the same way God used “these period” for Job and the Lord Jesus (Matthew 4; and Luke 4), and we know He is no respecter of person every one of us have opportunities for elevation. So therefore every situation we face are just opportunities for elevation. So don’t fret, you are so not alone.

And for those of us with resplendissant lives, we’d better be vigilant that we don’t fall into temptations.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Condivido pienamente il suo punto di vista. Ritengo che questa sia un'ottima idea.
Assolutamente d'accordo con lei. In questo nulla in vi e credo che questa sia un'ottima idea.

Anonymous said...

E 'vero! Ritengo che questa sia un'ottima idea. Sono d'accordo con te.
Condivido pienamente il suo punto di vista. L'idea di un buon supporto.

bonnie said...

wow.. thanks

Jennifer A. said...

It's so easy to get all caught up with the thought that "As far as the world looks resplendent, it is okay with my world."

Today, we greeted the couple sitting in front of us in church. We see them all the time, but we don't know their names. And we were talking about it right as we walked out of church...and now, this post. Definitely rings a bell.

BTW, I loved the descriptions in the story preceding the post...seriously, I felt like I was transported to another world...and only good writers make me feel that way. Kudos.

The Life of a Stranger called me said...

@ anon: wow, grazie per aver visitato. Sono così contenta che vi sia piaciuto il post.

@ bonnie: Thanks for visiting, glad you enjoyed the post.

@ Jaycee: ooh girl, you know your literary opinion is high praise indeed. Thank you so much, and so glad you were transported into another world. Glad you enjoyed it.

Kafo said...

loving the analogy

i've been in a constant state of struggle for the last couple of years and this has helped me reach out to others that are hurting

that being said
sometimes i grade pain.
i measure their struggles in comparison to mine and if it doesn't measure up i trivialize it

thanks for this reminder

have a blessed weekend

The Life of a Stranger called me said...

@ Kafo: How have you been? I haven't been checking my gmail email so it took me ages to see that you sent me an email ages ago :P I'm so sorry. oo thanks for stopping bye. Take care lovely.