The Ant And The Contact Lens

     There’s a great story about a group of hikers who were climbing the side of a mountain I want to share!  Roped in for security, the climbers were making their way to the top.  One of the ladies somehow managed to hit the rope just right and one of her contact lens popped out.  She was already frightened by the height and then add to this, the blurring of sight, she about had a melt down!

She, along with those around her, frantically looked for the mis-lodged contacts.  It was useless, so they all continued climbing.  The lady with a sense of altered sight now had to rely totally on the rope for the remaining of the journey.  Once on top, she sat down and just cried, asking the Lord how she was supposed to climb down without being able to properly see.

As she continued to pray and ask for calm, another group of climbers were ascending.  There was the shout from someone below who said, “Hey, anyone up there lose a contact lens?”  It turns out one of the new climbers happened to see the lens, because the sunshine hit the moving contact; revealing an ant that was carrying it. 

Isn’t that just like God?  He has a way of making a way when there doesn’t seem to be any possible solution.  As we face our day to day dilemma of the corona virus situation, politics seem to be overwhelmingly altering the decisions of our leaders.  There are those who fear that our world will never be ‘as it was’ before all this started.  I tend to agree.   

But God can see the whole picture.  We view it only through our human eyes and like the climber who couldn’t see without her contact lens, we can’t see without looking through the lens of God.  This is not to suggest we will get the answers for which we are looking, but it can change our perspective just the same.

Regardless of what we endure here on Earth, God is still in control.  He has the capability of changing the hearts and minds of those in leadership decisions.  Perhaps he is choosing to let our world be operated in a less than Biblical manner, to see just where we, Christian Believers, stand.   

I don’t have the first clue to what an alternative plan would be. I think regardless of the strategy implemented, there are those who are going to disagree!  But we can still look at the world and reach out to those who are in despair and hurting, whether it be physical, emotional or spiritual.  We can still make a difference if we choose to!

Is it easy?  Not necessarily.  It may put us out of our comfort zone.  It may take us places we’d rather not go and perhaps even need to take a chance or two against the dreaded germ.  If nothing else, we can cry out to the Lord, to open our eyes so that we may see what HE wants us to do.  There are options, and I hope you are listening to hear what God wants you to do during this time of change.  

Photo Credit:  https://depositphotos.com/stock-photos/contact-lens.html 

Staying In The Faith

 

        As children, we interpret events based on our level of understanding, the environment we live in, and often our emotions. The same events that sent us in a ‘tizzy’ as a young person, would be viewed completely different if it happened as a teenager, or an adult.  

If a child was to freeze on stage in front of their third grade class during a program and his mom scolded him on the way home for ‘humiliating’ her (it was her child after all and what the child does is a reflection of mom), the reaction of the child may be “I’m a bad, stupid kid.”

As a teenager, the same incident would be likely be, “I tried. I messed up and I’ll never do that again.  I embarrassed, myself and Mom!”

An adult view of the same incident, (the adult child on stage, freezing in a local play).  “Mom has perfection and shame issues.  I did the best I could, and mom couldn’t see it.  I wish things had been better, but I guess she did the best she could at the time.”

It’s what you bring to the situation that develops your reaction.  In every case, it was a reflection of not one, but both participants.  When we develop habits of downgrading ourselves because of a believed failure, we tend to nurture those feeling into adulthood.  It has a negative impact on relationships.

Being unable to accept our faults or shortcomings is even relevant when we talk about our relationship with The Father.  We don’t believe we are good enough to be accepted into the Faith.   It’s hard to believe that anyone, even God can love us when we view ourselves as ‘unlovable.’  Because of this, there are those who harden their hearts toward God.  Their minds, souls and hearts are clouded with gray images of being unworthy of any kind of acceptance.

Even for those who have accepted Christ as Savior, sometimes have a hard time holding on to the assurance and belief that when we mess up, God can forgive us.  It hinders our ability to be faithful, putting our thought process in a type of fog.  Some even become so confused, they turn their backs on a loving Savior.  

We are admonished in scripture not to do this.  We are told to remain faithful, even when things get hard.  God was angry with the Israelites during their years in the Wilderness because they lost their faith, and ended losing the right to enter into the Promised Land.  But when the time was right, the ‘door was opened.’

We have the Holy Spirit now and He helps us hold on, on those days when we feel like we’ve messed up.  And we also have our church family and other Believers with whom we can spend time, discuss our failure and encourage us to repent, rather than giving up.  

There are days most of us, when things get too much, have a melt down and cry, scream, sulk, get angry, or have another mode of working through it.  The best option, though not usually the one we think of first, is just cry out to the Father.  He hears us, love, us, and wants us to trust him with childlike faith.  It isn’t always easy, but it’s the best path to follow!

Growth In Suffering

 

         No one likes to suffer. Yet we are all, at some point in our lives, deal with suffering.  There is death of loved ones, illnesses of family or friends, financial problems, broken relationships, physical deformities or mental illness, abuse, and a long list of other ways a person can experience pain and hardship. Currently our news headlines are still all about the Coronavirus.  It’s brutal and is causing, as of this writing, a pandemic across the globe; still spreading, with grim consequences.

David, the author of Psalms was not a stranger to grief, pain and despair.  He was hunted by Saul, made huge human mistakes and paid the consequences of his sin, which included losing a son, and so much more.  Job was tested by God and lost everything!  And even Jesus was no stranger to temptation, pain, agony and suffering. 

Jesus came in human form so he could experience fully what we do as humans.  This act of obedience was painful from a human perspective, but even more so when you consider the price he paid on a cruel cross for the redemption of the human race!

As we experience pain and deal with the burdens of life, very often we learn who we are, what we’re “made of,” perhaps what we want out of life and what is important.  It’s what we do with what we learn, that can turn the tide for someone else.  The road of our suffering can be a place where we learn not only sympathy for someone going through a similar trial, but empathy.  God can use our burdens to bring others, who may not know him, to come to a place where they recognize their need for him.

We are able to give comfort, where otherwise, we probably would not have known how to respond.   In some crisis situations, very often we tend to consider who we are taking care of, and forget to take care of ourselves.  This compounds our misery.  We lose sleep, sometimes weight, due to our lack of focus on self-care.  We then, like those we are tending, become ill, even if differently. Our ‘agony’ overrides good sense if we don’t do something about it.

I have a friend who has dealt with a husband who had PTSD for years.  He finally went to counseling and has medication to deal with his illness.  She on the other hand, has never seen a counselor for her own emotional upheaval for all those years.  I learned recently, during a visit to her doctor for a different matter, the doctor saw something that triggered red flags.  Because of this visit, my friend is going to see a counselor.

She needs to work through her feelings, and God will likely use this!   Yet, for all this person’s grief and suffering, she holds fast to a God who carries her when she can no longer walk!  He holds her in the palm of his hand, and that is so reassuring; not just for her, but all of us!  

God says he is strong in our weakness.  I see myself as weak.  I’m outgoing, yet find myself filled with anxiety and fearful, when life is filled with mayhem.  We should all be holding fast to the Father, so that when life spirals out of control, sending us to the depths of despair, we can be like Jesus and say, ‘Not my will, but yours, Lord.’  That’s where I want to be.  

Staying In God's Rest

 

  There are days when I am positively spent after three minutes out of bed.  I went to bed at a decent hour and slept all night.  I dreamed some, but nothing dramatic. Still I’m just done and the day hasn’t even started.

Am I the only one who has this issue?  I doubt it, but that doesn’t make me feel any better, and certainly not less tired.  Rest.  Why am I not rested?  My mind, even after being in ‘shut down’ mode for the night still struggles with the issues of the day.  I realize it’s not physical fatigue, but mental and emotional exhaustion.  In a word, it’s stress!

The events that have filled my previous day, week and last several months leave me wondering ‘what will be next?’  ‘How long will this trial last?’  And likely sixty more questions just like these.  None of which have an absolute, of even hint, of an answer.

It makes me think about the Hebrew children who didn’t enter God’s rest because they had so little faith.  God became angry because the people would not believe in faith what he had promised.  They faltered, and murmured and complained.  He admonished them, ---and us--- to ‘not be stubborn.’  

Rest comes in a variety of forms.  The most precious rest is that which we find in God.  Sometimes I feel ‘stubborn’ when my mind doesn’t allow me to rest.  I am praying that God would take care of my problem (and I know He will), but ….  There’s that ‘but’!  Am I completely trusting Him?  Or am I worrying (that’s a sin!) about what’s going to happen, what will I do next, how will I manage, what can I do in the meantime? And a hundred other things.  

I admit, I’m allowing my worry to steal my peace!  That’s not what God wants.  I’m human just like everyone else.  And because of that quality, total trust can be elusive, yet that’s just what I must do to have the peace that God gives; the rest that supersedes all my problems!

I know one day there is going to be a greater rest than I can have on this planet.  It will be the joyful rest for eternity in the presence of a God that loves me.  He knows I have faults and stumble along the way.  But when life gets too heavy for me to walk, I know he will carry me and there is so much solace and comfort in that.

This week, do your best to place your trials at the feet of Jesus.  I can promise this isn’t always easy.  It takes effort and focus.  But the God we trust will never fail us---and that’s HIS promise!