A Life in Words

Wanted to share this thought.

Last night at our Wednesday church service my mother in law Pastor Sheri spoke on relationships which we had been doing for a few weeks now.

Last nights focus was on those difficult few that cause us strife in our life. She spoke of a time in college where God put her face to face with a young lady who was giving her a little frustration. A moment of maybe just a little passive aggressiveness from Pastor Sheri led to a moment of revelation. This moment promoted her to speak on how those difficult few, like sandpaper may be the Holy Spirit's hand in shaping us or nudges for change.

I quickly wanted to tell a friend of mine at work about the message because of some things that have been happening in our work lives. I had just the other day spoke about this topic but did not have the great insight from Pastor Sheri to wrap it all up in my head. I had read earlier in the week about the fight between a falcon and a snake and the tactics used by the falcon.

The article spoke on the intelligence of the falcon in that when the falcon attacks a snake it does not fight the battle on the snakes terms. On the ground the snake is strong, quick, and wise. Able to strike and defend quite well. But in the air the snake is powerless. The falcon chooses to bring the snake to it's world. In the same stroke as the enemy attacks us we cannot choose, albeit valiant or heroicish... to fight on the enemy's terms. We must fall back to our strength through Jesus to be able to fight the battles charged to us.

Now all of that brings us to today... As I tell my friend about this message last night we then say one of the catchy christian cliches... Not every bad thing is of the enemy. As I sat and listened to Pastor Sheri talk about her experiences and her message, a thought softly slid in. Those difficult few.. those people who are making our lives hard or tough. Causing us to doubt, backslide, fear and so many more things. Maybe... just maybe some of those are the whispering of the Holy Spirit. A soft voice trying to tell us something.

Now of course in the moment I normally choose to cower from defeat or unsheathe my sword for attack in the obvious belief that the enemy is attacking. But in reality the enemy is innocent of this moment. Or at least at the start of this moment. The enemy's only effort is to grab my ear and encourage what I have already laid out to do. And that is anything but fall back to my strength.

Maybe in those moments where the sandpaper meets flesh and really starts to rub raw. Maybe we should get quiet, maybe we should shoot up a flare for help, for direction and put on the armor that we need and look for the help we were promised.