Skip to main content

When It Hits The Fan


I have chosen the way of faithfulness; I have set my heart on your laws. (Psalm 119:30)

          This verse and Romans 7 speak to my circumstances this morning. At my best, my walks are also a time of prayer. Recently, those prayers have been little more than “Help!” and “WDA, Lord.” I want to say, “I have chosen the way of faithfulness; I have set my heart on your laws,” but the choosing and setting last maybe two and a half seconds, and I’m back to “Help me, help me.” I can flip back to my standard operating procedure between one sentence and the next. 
          I strongly suspect there’s habit involved. This is one of those cases when I need to learn to control my bowels (since to the ancients, the bowels were the seat of emotion, but to us they tend to be the source of excrement by one name or another. I’ve come to the conclusion that self-control has a lot to do with controlling the bowels, or at least with changing one’s own diaper.
         First things first, learning to identify when you’re about to go. Another key somewhere along the line is learning when, where, and how it is appropriate to go. What is an appropriate emotional toilet? Third might be developing a good plan for when one has an accident. This might also be thought of as what happens when... uh... it hits the fan. I think I might need to do some thinking and praying about this one.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Think About These Things

                 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4:8) This passage is a major challenge for me. Like everyone else, I struggle to keep my thoughts from wandering off into the weeds, then wondering what possible benefits those weeds might have… Sigh. But as a writer, I have to delve at least a little into the ignoble, wrong, impure, unlovely, and debased. After all, there’s no story if everything’s just as it should be and everyone’s happy. As Christians, there are times when we need to deal with all the negatives, but that makes it even more important that we practice turning our minds by force of attention to what is noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. It’s just too easy to get stuck in a swamp. With my...
1 comment
Read more

Higher Thoughts

  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the  Lord . “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)           The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,   for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord      so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (I Corinthians 2:15-16) If you read about the ancient gods of the various peoples, you’ll find that they think just like people. In fact, they think just like the sort of people we really wouldn’t want to be around. They think like the most corrupt Hollywood producer or, like hormone overloaded teens with no upbringing.   It’s embarrassing to read. I have a friend who argues that because God is not just like us, He is so vastly dif...
2 comments
Read more

Pure...

            The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. (I Timothy 1:5)   I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. (Revelation 3:15-16) I’m probably cheating - or mishandling the Bible, but earlier I was thinking about love being pure and purifying. And hatred being pure and purifying. And anger…joy…patience… fear… jealousy… courage…lust… and other strongly felt feelings, attitudes, and beliefs. Today’s verse brings purity and love together, so it’s the verse of the day, but it’s not really the focus. That means my motive for sharing it with you probably isn’t pure. As you read through my list, you   probably thought, “Yeah” about some, and “What’s she on?” about others. But consider how much hatred, a...
Post a Comment
Read more