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I woke up with a movie scene playing through my mind this morning. It’s from A Monster Calls.

It’s the scene were the boy destroys his grandmothers living room.

Before you are too hard on the boy, you need to understand his situation. His Mum is dieing from cancer, and he’s not dealing with it, in any way, other than badly. Him trashing his grandmother’s room, is an outworking of his not coping. In the movie, when the grandmother enters, the boy’s face is a picture of regret, fear and sorrow.

The scene that played out in my mind was slightly different.
The boy just ran away, leaving his grandmother with the mess. She then purposely left it alone.
A friend of the grandmother then enters, sees the mess, and wants to clear it up. But, the grandmother stops them from doing so. From the grandmother, a clear message is sent, “The one who created the mess, needs to accept the mess, before it is cleared up.”

This is were the scene in my mind finished.
The grandmother loved the boy, and was not being mean in her actions. She just wanted the boy to be able to heal, which meant, facing up to what had been done. In the movie, this happens straight away (on the boys face), but in the scene in my mind, there was a delay.

It left me with a further scene of the grandmother, and her friend, sitting in the trashed room, having a cup of tea. The grandmother was clearly troubled, but at peace (in a strange kind of way). The friend just looked awkward, trying to find a clear spot to sit in, desperately wanting to tidy the room up, but not being allowed to do so.

I’ve been thinking about denial, just recently, and the problems that it could possibly cause.

In the scenes above, I think that we can see hidden trauma being released in an explosive way, in the trashing of the room.
In the scene that played out in my mind, we can then see, “denial” playing it’s part, by the boy just running away. Don’t look at it, run away, it’s not really there, it never happened.
If the room was cleared up, then could the delusion possibly be allowed to continue?
This would not be good for the boy.
As hard as it is, for the boy and grandmother (and also the visiting friend) the mess needs to remain, so that the boy can then face up to what has happened, instead of just brushing it under the carpet.

Facing up to hurts, can be a very painful thing to do.
Facing up to them with a Loved one, holding your hand and guiding your steps, may be a better way of doing it, rather than going at it alone.
We have a Loving Heavenly Father, who is For us, and wants the Best for us. If we have something that we need to deal with, that we are struggling with, then we can call on His help and His guidance, to help us, to get through it.

The final scene (that was not in the film) that ran through my mind this morning, was of the boy and the grandmother, making a start on clearing up the room, together.

Lord God,
If there is anything that we have been trying to hide from, for any reason, then please help us to look at it together.
Please be the Loving and Guiding hand, that can help us to make it through all things.
Our Loving Heavenly Father,
Amen.

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Psalm 139:23-24
²³ Search me, God, and know my heart;
    test me and know my anxious thoughts.
²⁴ See if there is any offensive way in me,
    and lead me in the way everlasting.

1 John 1:5-10
Light and Darkness, Sin and Forgiveness

⁵ This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. ⁶ If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. ⁷ But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

⁸ If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. ⁹ If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰ If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.

I nearly murdered my sandwich the other day. 🙂
(At the time this was written.)

It wasn’t the sandwich’s fault, it was just the final thing that topped me over the edge. (Or nearly.)

I was just trying to cut my cheese and pickle sandwich in half, but it was the wrong knife for going through the crusts. The crusts just simply looked at the knife and in effect said, “Ha, wrong knife mister. You aren’t cutting me with that.”

I just tore the crusts apart in the end, suppressing the urge to pound the sandwich into the work top and then throwing it straight at the window, which was closed.
It would have been a better option if the window was open.
At least then the birds would have been able to peck away at those blasted crusts, rather than it just make a mess of the window.

Fortunately I managed to surpress the urge to murder the sandwich and throw it at the window. The scenario burning through my head was enough to bring me to my senses.

I just thought, “Have things got so bad that I’m now about to murder a sandwich???” 🙂

I’m not going to share what brought me to this point here. (It would probably take too long, and could possibly end up making me look small minded and silly.)
But it has left me with the thought of, “Can we acknowledge when we are not doing too well?”

When we are not doing so well, then how do we deal with it?
Do we just try to ignore it, and then almost destroy a sandwich? (Or something else?)
Is there a better option that we could take?

Psalm 42:5

Why, my soul, are you downcast?
    Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
    for I will yet praise him,
    my Savior and my God.

King David knew a thing or two about things not going too well for him, at times.
There are many Psalms where David pours his soul out.
He has times when he acknowledges that things are not so good, and then looks to God for his help.

Could we all try to follow David’s example instead of coming to the point where we just want you murder a poor defenceless cheese and pickle sandwich?

Lord God Almighty,
You are my Lord God.
Thank you that You are for me and not against me.
Thank you that You do Love me.
Help me to come to You that much sooner, before I start to do the daft and silly things.
You are my Rock and Fortress, and to You I look for my help.
You are The One who can keep me from falling and keep me out of harms way.
In You I can find Your rest.
My Lord God Almighty.
Amen.

This is an account of an incident that actually happened. It doesn’t show the best of what cyclists can do, but it does demonstrate why we all shouldn’t put ourselves, where we are not meant to be.

There was a cyclist who on his journey to work came to a certain junction.

At this junction it was quicker and easier to go onto the pavement to go past it.

After a time the cyclist realised that if he went on the wrong side of the road for a very short space, then he could navigate the junction just a little bit quicker and easier.
No one was hurt or put out by the cyclist doing this, and thus a new way of navigating the junction was made into a routine for the cyclist.

Each day the cyclist would come to the junction, look to make sure that the wrong side of the road was clear, then just use the wrong side of the road for a very short section, of the road. Another day of passing through the junction at a better pace, without causing anyone any issues. …. ???

Until one day….
One day the cyclist was a bit distracted. Something was going through the cyclists mind as he approached the junction.
So instead of checking that the way was clear, the cyclist just went onto the wrong side of the road, as had been done, sooo many times before, and had now become the norm… only this time… a car was coming on the other side of the road…. The right side of the road!

DANGER AHEAD !!!

“Oh Dear!!???” (And a great many other things) went through the cyclists head. “What am I doing, and how did I get here???” Also went through the cyclists head.

The car driver, probably thought (and quite rightly so) many similar sorts of things.

Fortunately for all, there was enough space for the cyclist to pull to the side, so the car could pass by without incident, (other than both people thinking, “What is going on?”)

The cyclist then sheepishly made his way to the pavement, and then tried to fathom out, what had just happened???

It was soon worked out. The cyclist had been doing the wrong thing, and getting away with it for sooo many times that it had just become normal thing to do. The wrong normal thing.
The cyclist liked the quicker way go through the junction, and nobody was hurt or put out…. Until the day it all went wrong!
Because the cyclist was were he shouldn’t have been.
The cyclist, in a moment, vowed to never put himself in such a silly position ever again.

It would be very easy to read this account and then want to go on a witch hunt for the said cyclist and bring him to task for his actions. But no such hunt is necessary.
The cyclist knew that he had done wrong.
Repented of his wrong actions and vowed to never repeat, said action again.

Are there times when we go and put ourselves in a similar position to the cyclist?
Do we ever take a short cut with something, even though we know it’s not quite the right way to do …… ?
Do we then get away with taking our short cut for a time?
Can we then start to think that our short cut is a better way to do ……. as it had worked well for sooo many times in the past?
Will we come to a day when it won’t work??? …..
Will we then come to a moment of “DANGER AHEAD!!!” ???
Could we steer clear of such a moment by doing what is right instead of taking our convenient short cut, that could lead to …???

A lie served up with a truth, can be so much more difficult to see.
I think that I first saw this in a TV programme once.

There were two agencies working on a case, when one wanted to direct the second away from something. They tried to do this by handing over a lie, an altered photograph. But the photo was handed over with other evidence, which was truthful.
When the lie was exposed, the question was asked, as to why was the lie given with the truthful evidence? The answer was very straightforward, “A lie is best served up between two truths.”

The two truths, can tend to validate the lie.
The two truths have proved to be good, and this third one has come from the same source, so, I can trust this one as well then, …. can’t I???

If the third one is actually truth, then yes, you can trust that one as well.
But if it is a lie, then it’s a lie, hidden between two truths.
A lie is a lie, regardless of how many truths it is surrounded by. It just might be more difficult to see, if a truth is standing next to it.

It could be like ground up glass, mixed in with sugar. It may be difficult to see the difference. But if you taste it, the difference will show itself up, very quickly. (Do not test this theory out. That would be a very foolish and dangerous thing to do!)

Why am I going into all this though?

When we hear from Our God, then we are meant to test if it is actually from Our God.

1 Thessalonians 5:19-24

¹⁹ Do not quench the Spirit. ²⁰ Do not treat prophecies with contempt ²¹ but test them all; hold on to what is good, ²² reject every kind of evil.
²³ May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁴ The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.

We can see from the above, that we are meant to test all things. To hold onto the good and to reject every kind of evil. If something is part good, then we should take hold of the good, but let go of the not so good. We need to be careful to not take in something that is wrong, just because it is covered or hidden in something that is good.
We need to be on our guard against things that could lead us astray or cause us harm. If we are unable to separate the two, then would we be that much better off, to just avoid the questionable source altogether?

So where do we look to for how we should act or go?
For us people who call on and look to Our Heavenly Father, He should be, needs to be, the first port of call for who we look to!
His Word, the Bible, is how we can test, to see if the way we are heading is right, or not.

Psalm 119:103-105

¹⁰³ How sweet are your words to my taste,
    sweeter than honey to my mouth!
¹⁰⁴ I gain understanding from your precepts;
    therefore I hate every wrong path.

נ Nun

¹⁰⁵ Your word is a lamp for my feet,
    a light on my path.

In today’s modern world, there are so many sources, trying to show or teach us everything. (Or at least, try to.) But how many are leading to a wrong path, whilst masquerading as the sweetest, best thing?
How many sweet words, will turn into the most vile and bitter of aftertastes?

The best way to protect ourselves from wrong thinking, is to know Our Lord God’s words, and His way for us to go, and to then follow His path, that He has laid out for us.

With a title like this one, well, who’s going to read it??? 🙂
I’ll leave the spotlight shinning to The Lord Our God, and hope that He directs those, for who it is meant for.

Are you Grieved?

This was a word that was brought by someone after a week of prayer, not by me. It was brought with a heavy reluctant heart. But the person, who I know to be a man of God, brought it all the same.

I may get some of the details of what was said wrong, but the the question was posed, “Are you Grieved?”
The bits I heard, that may or may not have been said, was, “Are you Grieved, for what you don’t have?”

I believe that this word came to the word bringer, about the same time that I got last week’s post. Will you let the Chaff Fly Away. They could be linked.
Gideon was threshing wheat in a wine press, when he was visited by the angel of the LORD (Judges 6:11). Gideon was grieved.
“Where are all the signs and wonders of times gone by?” Was the tone of Gideon’s thoughts. (Judges 6:13)
In some ways they echo my thoughts in the here and now.

Where are all the signs and wonders that SHOULD accompany the preaching of the Gospel?
Where is the Power of, The Lord Our God?
In short, where is the Revival, that we are all waiting for? (Are you waiting for it?)

To them questions, Yes! I am grieved.
I hear and see that there could be, should be soo much more, but for some reason, we are lacking.

Why is this?
Unfortunately, I don’t have the definitive answer.
But, do we need to let the wind, take the chaff away that much more?
Do we need to let go of that, which has so little value, but we cling to all the same?
Do we need to be refined by Our Lord God’s Fire, so that we can then be Pure and Holy so that we can then be, what we are meant to be, in the first place?
Are we willing to go through the fire?
Are we willing to let the wind, take the chaff away?

During the week, another word was spoken. It was a prayer (from Lectio 365 Devotions)
“Lord, I pray for my church. If steadiness has become stagnancy, come and stir us up.
If peacefulness has become sleepiness, come and wake us up.
There is a wide, wild, and wonderful world to explore and to win with you. Help us not to miss it!”

Are we receiving a wake up call?
If we are, then how will we respond to it?

Our Lord God,
Search me and try me.
Seek out if there is any offensive way in me.
Help me, as You refine me.
Let me be, as You want me to be.
Amen.

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Are we too Pleasant to each other? (At times)
Are we truly real with each other?

Are we like the Church at Laodicea?
A follow on from “Are we too Pleasant to each other? (At times)”

Is your greatest trophy just a foundation stone?
Are you living in the past or are you willing to step into the new?

Somebody else’s problem
Will you pick up or put down what Father tells you to?

The Church on the Cliff Top
Will we listen for the small steps as well as the vision?