As I sit in my house, in isolation due to something that I didn’t create didn’t make happen I wonder why there is a sadness. Yesterday, Sunday it hit me. I am not the only one who feels this. The reason for this sadness, the emptiness, the lacking is Spiritual Starvation. Which is worse than being physically starving.
When we physically are starving it takes roughly 30 days for the body to start shutting down, for the organs to refuse to work because they have no fuel. For most of us it has been a bit longer for the Spiritual starvation to begins it work of spiritual destruction. For me it has been seven weeks since we met as a body. Think about that seven weeks without the Spiritual uplifting, edification and love that we as a body require. Seven weeks since we all came together as family.
While some will say, “Well, there are online services, watch them.” I agree there are online services and I do watch them, but it is not the same thing. It is not being together. It is like having a broken limb, the rest of the body does not function properly. We are told to meet with each other for a reason. One of the reasons is that we are a body collectively. That body cannot function unless the body is together. Pretty soon, the different parts of the body will strike out on its own. We all know how well that works out. It doesn’t.
I am sad, that we as a Spiritual family have forgotten how important being with one another is. How much strength is gained by being in the presence of each other. I think about the disciples and how strong they were when Jesus was around. And when he left, there was a piece missing from the body.
Will we ever meet again as a body? Who knows? If we do what will we have lost never to be regained? How many will have fallen into the crevice of life never to return? How many will be unwilling to meet again? These are all valid questions in the environment we find ourselves. How many will continue to live in the fear of “the disease” because we have become conditioned to become an island? How many will become comfortable sitting at home and watching streaming sermons, because they still live in fear?
I cannot answer these questions. Each of you will have to search your hearts. Each of you will have to understand if you are spiritually starved for the company of each other for uplifting, edification and strength. I know what my answers are. And I know that I am very sad. I miss my spiritual family. I miss my sisters; I miss the love we show each other every time we meet. I miss the rest of my body.
Tag: godspeople
Decisions and Consequences
I just read an interesting statement. It went something like this “You are free to choose, but you are not free from the consequences of that choice.” This is something I have said to my children since the day they were old enough to understand the spoken word.
As we think about the things that are currently being discussed within our family, we must prayerfully think about all the possible consequences both intended and unintended. Sometimes when we are in the trenches of a decision, we tend to look past what we think is right or what we believe we should accomplish.
While I am a creative person and think with the right side of my brain, I also tend to think on the logic side due to the OCD factor. I will analyze a problem from all sides in a non-emotional way. The reason is simple with my background, if it walks like a duck, talk like a duck and looks like a duck, it is a duck.
When Jesus was brought before Pilot, the crowd had already been whipped into a frenzy due to emotion and not logic. Yes, it was pre-ordained, however, there was no logic involved, it was all emotion.
In major decisions no matter if it is in personal, business or even spiritual, it must be met with logic and detailed thought processes.
Yes, we are free to choose, but we are not free from the consequences intended or non-intended. I ask that much prayer and study and thought both pro and con go into the process. That all emotion be removed, and that logic is used to reach a decision that is scriptural, beneficial and meets the needs of all involved. This is not about one person, one opinion or even one act. This decision will affect this family for years to come.
Broken Pieces
“I was at the grocery store this morning and heard a loud crash and something shattering. Being nosy, I walked towards the sound and saw some people whispering and looking back to the end of the next aisle. When I walked down that aisle, I saw an older lady had hit a shelf containing dishes with her cart and many had fallen to the ground and broke. She was kneeling on the floor embarrassed, frantically picking up the shattered pieces, while her husband was peeling off the bar code from each broken dish saying, “Now we will have to pay for all this!”
I felt so bad for her, and everyone was just standing there staring at her!! I went and knelt beside her and told her not to worry and started helping her pick up the broken pieces. After about a minute, the store manager came and knelt beside us and said, “Leave it, we will clean this up. Let’s get your information so you can go to the hospital and have that cut on your hand looked at.”
The lady, totally embarrassed said, “I need to pay for all this first.” The manager smiled, helped her to her feet and said, “No ma’am, we have insurance for this, you do not have to pay anything!”
I have read this story many times and it never fails to send its message to me.
We are all broken. And yet, we pay no price for our repairs. That price has already been paid. We just have to accept the check and take the action of putting it in the bank. We will never be able to repay the bill. However, we can invest in the account. No matter our age, educational level, or experience or lack thereof, we can and must invest in the account, because we are no longer broken.
Finding Balance
If we look around us, at nature, from the plant life to the animal kingdom, to the sky above us we see a balance. Everything has a place, a purpose and a beginning and an end. Everything depends on the other for not only survival but balance.
When we look at man, sadly, the same thing is not true. There is no balance even though the design is already there. We overwork, overeat, over think, over everything. We destroy that which should take care of us. We do not replenish those things we use. We waste those things which we should cherish and we horde those things which can, and most times do us harm. We are not cautious in our lives, nor do we learn from our bad decisions.
How many of us use these phrases in conversation and don’t even realize that we have made the statements, “Someday, I will…. Someday I want to…., Someday I need too.. Somebody needs to…. Someody should….” And the list goes on.
I too have been caught up in the same wheel of phrases. It was a lesson learned in a very hard way. I found out the somedays ran out, the Somebodies were me. I had to find balance. I had to understand that everyone has the same 24 hours in their lives. How we manage those 24 hours is where we either find our balance or make it off balance.
As we start a new year, may we make it a goal to find balance, to understand that someday is now, that some one is us.
The Good News A Journey Through the Bible 