Children hold onto security by grasping dirty blankets or fuzzy stuffed rabbits. They drag these possessions through life in the mud and rain; winter and summer. By the time they enter first grade, they leave behind these symbols of place and grasp their fathers’ or mothers’ hands. They learn to slowly let go and enter a new world where security is gone, comfort is unknown and friends have yet to be made.
Over time, confidence enters their young life and they grow into adulthood reaching to find old comfort in bank accounts, circles of friends or bands of gold.
I look for security in that which cannot be seen; in arms that cannot hold. I look into the sky and into my heart to find a presence that provides all the security I have ever needed. And yet, I still rub on the gold cross my grandparents gave me and slip the chain around my neck on days that I need to feel secure. On days that I can’t be seen with my old blanket or rabbit.
I’m hopeful – ever hopeful – that one day, I will no longer need a physical reminder of the love of God and His faithful security.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Furry Lizards
This week, I went to the beach for the first time in almost three years. Upon my return back home and unpacking, I settled into my favorite chair and pondered. From this vantage point, I remembered sitting in the same spot following the same trip. That time, I stayed awake into the early morning hours worrying that I might have a concussion following the car accident that happened on the way home.
During those long hours, I spotted movement under the couch. It looked like a lizard with mouse fur. Or perhaps it was a mouse with lizard stripes. I remembered watching this creature thinking that surely I had sustained grave injuries. Finally, I realized it was a lizard that had traveled back in my luggage and was scampering loose in the house picking up traces of dirt and untold debris.
Sometimes people are lizards passing themselves as mice--running through life in disguise from themselves and others. Using their sharp tongues to hurt and inflict pain. Crawling in the dirt as their reptilian minds plot against the innocent. Lying in wait and lying to others as they create fiction from fact. Using life’s tragedies and circumstances to profit and accomplish hidden motives.
And sometimes things are as they appear. There are people with smiles that reach their eyes and compassion shining on their skin. I know of people extending a hand of service because they care. Daily stories of volunteers showing up at a stranger’s door to help flood recovery. Money given with a joyful heart. Regardless of circumstance, clothes and appearance, people lifting joyful hands to heavens.
Sitting in my chair, I think about the changes over the past few years. Surgery, recovery, friends lost, friends found, and a different job. Perhaps the biggest difference; I more easily recognize lizards-- regardless of disguise.
During those long hours, I spotted movement under the couch. It looked like a lizard with mouse fur. Or perhaps it was a mouse with lizard stripes. I remembered watching this creature thinking that surely I had sustained grave injuries. Finally, I realized it was a lizard that had traveled back in my luggage and was scampering loose in the house picking up traces of dirt and untold debris.
Sometimes people are lizards passing themselves as mice--running through life in disguise from themselves and others. Using their sharp tongues to hurt and inflict pain. Crawling in the dirt as their reptilian minds plot against the innocent. Lying in wait and lying to others as they create fiction from fact. Using life’s tragedies and circumstances to profit and accomplish hidden motives.
And sometimes things are as they appear. There are people with smiles that reach their eyes and compassion shining on their skin. I know of people extending a hand of service because they care. Daily stories of volunteers showing up at a stranger’s door to help flood recovery. Money given with a joyful heart. Regardless of circumstance, clothes and appearance, people lifting joyful hands to heavens.
Sitting in my chair, I think about the changes over the past few years. Surgery, recovery, friends lost, friends found, and a different job. Perhaps the biggest difference; I more easily recognize lizards-- regardless of disguise.
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