My son, Jake demonstrated an interest in nature at a very
young age. We loved going for nature
walks, identifying the critters, listening to their voices, etc. For as long as I can recall, Jake also
exhibited a tender heart toward children with “disabilities”. When he was a pre-teen, we lived close to a
state park which had a nature program for such children. I talked to the director about the
possibility of having Jake volunteer to help.
The director was very keen toward Jake’s young heart and was more than
interested in having an assistant! Once
a week, Jake went to “work” at the nature center and to spend the day with his
new friends. What an experience this was
for him!
Jake developed a special relationship with Gina, a young
girl who was blind. Wanting to make
something very special for her, Jake decided upon a “touch and feel” book of
Bible stories. Upon its completion, we
made a trip to Gina’s home in order for Jake to present his gift to her.
Jake and Gina sat next to one another as he read the book to
her. At certain points in the stories
Jake would take Gina’s finger and helped her to feel something that was
described in the text. We used a piece
of sand paper to emulate a stone mentioned in one of the stories. As Jake read about the stone, he took Gina’s
finger and rubbed it across the sandpaper and explained, “This is a stone.”
After some time, Gina’s mother returned home from work. Gina excitedly encouraged her mother to read
the book that Jake had made. When she
came to the part about the stone, Gina’s mother took Gina’s finger, rubbed it
across the sandpaper and said, “This is a ‘rock.’” Gina promptly retorted, “No! Say, ‘Stone!’” Gina wanted to hear the story, just as Jake had told it! Any other version seemed incorrect to her.
As sweet as this story is, I’ve come to realize more and
more how tainted our lenses are toward hearing spiritual truth. We’ve heard “the story” told in a certain way
for so many years that we resist reading it without our tinted lenses; in fact,
it is one of the most difficult things we’ll ever have to do. We like the story the way that we’ve always
heard it. Regardless of whether or not
we learned it accurately, it’s familiar and comfortable.
A number of years ago, I encouraged a lady to reexamine a particular
spiritual subject. Together, we read the
various sections of scripture investigating the topic. I then asked her what her thoughts were. She reiterated her preconceived understanding. I challenged her response, “But… what does Scripture
say? She acquiesced, “I know what you
are getting at, but…. if I go there it will require me to re-evaluate everything I’ve ever believed. You have to understand that everything my
family has ever stood for rests upon this!
It is too frightening and over-whelming to consider that we’ve had it
wrong all along. I just can’t go there!”
Although I was pretty certain of her answer, I felt it
necessary to ask,
“Are you saying that you’d rather believe a lie
than to seek truth
no matter what the outcome may be?”
With reservation she said, “Yes.” My heart sank. I knew she was not standing on solid ground.
As familiar and comfortable as it may be, your foundation may not be a solid
rock. In fact, it may very well be sinking
sand. The consideration is frightening;
isn’t it? I truly understand the
fear. I’ve been there! However, at some point, we all have to face
the reality that we only have two options:
1. continue,
in vain, to reinforce the unsupported and deceptive security upon which we’ve
always trusted until there is nothing left to stand on.
2. be
willing to let the unstable foundation to come tumbling down around us and trust
Father to rebuild a firm and lasting foundation, one solid rock at a time.
Or should I say
“stone!?
Whole-Heartedly,
Bonnie
P.S. Please
feel free to contact me with questions, thoughts, topics you’d like to ponder
or to read past articles at: http://whole-heartedlife.blogspot.com/. You may also contact me at:
Bonnie
Jaeckle
In Search
of the Whole-Hearted Life
Diagonal
Progress
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment