There are two images crowding my mind this morning. One is of a beautiful, thin, blonde twenty-five-year-old girl begging a man more than thirty years her senior to come and see her. She is hunched over and hung over. The other image is of two fawns, only a few yards away from my open car window, peering at me in curiosity, then lifting their heads and bobbing them a bit to catch my scent and make sense of it. One, an image of waste and despair, the other the wonder of young life and vitality.
The first image is from a television series called "Intervention." While fascinating to watch, this program, which follows addicts through their daily life and into a confrontation with their loved ones during which they must choose leaving for treatment or being shut out of the family, is extremely sad. It leaves you heavy-hearted. It is laced with the weight of years of waste. Waste of potential, certainly, but, more importantly, waste of the joy of life and richness of relationships.
The second image is taken from something I experienced just yesterday at dusk. Gary and I were out at a state park. We drove by campsites bordering a farm. Suddenly we spied, in a field full of horses, a herd of deer, grazing in two separate groups. We needed binoculars at first. Eventually, the groups came together and began inching closer to us. Suddenly, the two smallest, fawns with legs beginning to stretch out like pre-teens yet still sporting their white spots, saw us and began trotting toward our truck. I almost held my breath as they came onward. One was a bit braver than the other. He or she came within a few yards of us, ears pricked and eyes wide with curiosity. I wanted to hold my breath as the delicate creature, desirous of making out just what that was in that big red thing, tipped a bit closer and, when we thought it would not move closer, just a bit more. Eventually, the fawn saw that the herd was moving on without it and sprung off toward them. We turned around and headed down another road, scattering a huge flock of wild turkeys as we moseyed along. The freshness and purity of the encounter with the fawn fed my soul as we headed back into the world of laundry, homework oversight, and other "responsible" pursuits.
Back to the contrasting image of the young girl, her life also ahead of her, much like the lanky fawn. Instead of sprinting away into the rich, fulfilling destiny God had planned for her, she had stalled out in the trenches of life. After emotional body blows that left her winded, she reached for alcohol, which left her empty, a shell of human being who, though beautiful, talented and intelligent, was willing to sell herself for liquor money. As I watched more than one episode of this show back to back, I realized why I was flinching with each tale. I saw myself, in a sense. No, I don't use alcohol or drugs. However, I, like so many other Christians, HAVE allowed lack of faith, fear, depression and other "goodies" from Satan's bag of tricks to limit my potential, and take a hatchet to the life I am building in Christ. I have allowed other "escapes" such as excessive internet use, to keep me from pursuing the fulfilling life of purpose marked out for me. I have let other voices, including those of temporary pleasures and meaningless time-wasting pursuits, drown the voice of the Holy Spirit, who has not come into my life to take anything away, but to give me everything! He has a perfect plan for my life, and boring, unfulfilling, or deprived it is not!!! I made a further resolve to quiet myself for some time every single day so that I can hear Him. I have asked Him to give me the strength and courage to do what He reveals to me is His plan for my life. Now all I have to do is buckle my seatbelt and get ready for the ride to end all rides!
The first image is from a television series called "Intervention." While fascinating to watch, this program, which follows addicts through their daily life and into a confrontation with their loved ones during which they must choose leaving for treatment or being shut out of the family, is extremely sad. It leaves you heavy-hearted. It is laced with the weight of years of waste. Waste of potential, certainly, but, more importantly, waste of the joy of life and richness of relationships.
The second image is taken from something I experienced just yesterday at dusk. Gary and I were out at a state park. We drove by campsites bordering a farm. Suddenly we spied, in a field full of horses, a herd of deer, grazing in two separate groups. We needed binoculars at first. Eventually, the groups came together and began inching closer to us. Suddenly, the two smallest, fawns with legs beginning to stretch out like pre-teens yet still sporting their white spots, saw us and began trotting toward our truck. I almost held my breath as they came onward. One was a bit braver than the other. He or she came within a few yards of us, ears pricked and eyes wide with curiosity. I wanted to hold my breath as the delicate creature, desirous of making out just what that was in that big red thing, tipped a bit closer and, when we thought it would not move closer, just a bit more. Eventually, the fawn saw that the herd was moving on without it and sprung off toward them. We turned around and headed down another road, scattering a huge flock of wild turkeys as we moseyed along. The freshness and purity of the encounter with the fawn fed my soul as we headed back into the world of laundry, homework oversight, and other "responsible" pursuits.
Back to the contrasting image of the young girl, her life also ahead of her, much like the lanky fawn. Instead of sprinting away into the rich, fulfilling destiny God had planned for her, she had stalled out in the trenches of life. After emotional body blows that left her winded, she reached for alcohol, which left her empty, a shell of human being who, though beautiful, talented and intelligent, was willing to sell herself for liquor money. As I watched more than one episode of this show back to back, I realized why I was flinching with each tale. I saw myself, in a sense. No, I don't use alcohol or drugs. However, I, like so many other Christians, HAVE allowed lack of faith, fear, depression and other "goodies" from Satan's bag of tricks to limit my potential, and take a hatchet to the life I am building in Christ. I have allowed other "escapes" such as excessive internet use, to keep me from pursuing the fulfilling life of purpose marked out for me. I have let other voices, including those of temporary pleasures and meaningless time-wasting pursuits, drown the voice of the Holy Spirit, who has not come into my life to take anything away, but to give me everything! He has a perfect plan for my life, and boring, unfulfilling, or deprived it is not!!! I made a further resolve to quiet myself for some time every single day so that I can hear Him. I have asked Him to give me the strength and courage to do what He reveals to me is His plan for my life. Now all I have to do is buckle my seatbelt and get ready for the ride to end all rides!
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