As I sit here in our room in Oklahoma eating a banana quite grumpily, I have to laugh at the irony of what I see (as pictured above).
Look at all these "walls" we've put up! Each one is different, and each has a different purpose. But all share a similar end: privacy! Or, escape! "Essss-CA-pe!"
How quick and determined I can be to run and hide behind some kind of wall. Some of my walls of escape are:
-nap time (hey, it reduces my risk of heart ailments!)
-cooking (well who doesn't like food?)
-music (He says to sing, what's the problem?)
-work! (I should be diligent, right?)
Then there are intangible walls.
Do I have walls from my past, such as old ways of thinking?
Do I have walls that represent what i wish perhaps my life resembled, like the mysterious "mirrors" in the Phantom of the Opera?"
All of these are ways that I try to escape from what is really happening or from who I really am.
But tonight as I sat here and noticed all of these different walls of refuge and "safety", it struck me how silly they can be. Is there a time and place for hiding behind a wall? Perhaps, yes. Maybe not in the way I often do, though. What does it mean, after all, that He is my refuge, my shelter, my hiding place? What does it mean for me to hide myself in Him?
What is the manner and means by which I 'hide' in a time of trouble- within or without?
I believe He would have me continue learning to put down self-protecting walls. I remember seeing the Phantom of the Opera for the first time ( yes I have seen the musical, but here I actually mean the movie). I couldn't help but cry at the end as the "phantom" realized for the first time some simple truths about himself and about the world- and his response was to completely shatter the mirrors (the 'walls') that had been his livelihood, his reality, and his safety. It reminded me of when The Lord freed me of my despair and taught me Truths about Himself, about myself, about life, and about the world. In essence, i felt i had shattered my own mirrors/walls and begun to live in the freedom of Christ in me!
Here is a song that captures the thought well:
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