Something that I have found that is quite important in the Christian walk is truth. Very obvious isn't it?
Over the past few months, I have been struggling with something that is quite new in my life. Well, since I had my large bowel removed because of Crohn's, almost three years ago, I have had to rely on an ileostomy pouch. Not a fun thing to live with, but when you weigh out the good and bad, it's much better. But what is now happening is that it is more difficult to lean over and pick something up. With a bag hanging on you, as my son would say, "Don't, don't pop the balloon!!!" So I have a few three-foot grabbing tools that help out sometimes. But here's what's been happening over the past few months. I am now dropping things so often I have started to question what is wrong with me. For instance, if I open the bread to make something, I almost just automatically look to the floor and there is the little twist tie as if it were laughing at me. I get down on one knee, pick it up and place it safely on the counter so it won't fall off again. Mind you, the tool won't work with a twist tie. Things like that have been happening so often I'm starting to just laugh when it happens. But along with that attempt to feel okay about it is this presence of what is wrong with me? I'm questioning what is happening. Am I being careless? Will this get worse? Is it a medical thing? Of course I look to the heavens and ask, "Lord, what's going on?"
As I was going through this journey of dropping things last week, here's what observed. A quote and a post.
“You can see God from anywhere if your mind is set to love and obey Him. – A.W. Tozer
A friend made a FB post about a potato. Simply his methodology was to lure people to make comments about his picture post, and he would comment to every one of them, "It's just a potato." Many people tried jokingly to cloud up the reality of what was in front of them.
My desire overall is to stop dropping things. But I can't imagine this was not intended to be a learning journey in some way. How can a quote and a post make any difference in what is happening? What I really observed is that when my heart changed from ‘Why is this happening to me?!! I need to know what's wrong!’ to ‘Lord, what are you doing? What is this journey you are taking me along?’, something changed (things on the floor didn't). And as I read the quote and the post, Poof!!, the light came on.
So I'm having a "call it what it is” moment. If it's just a potato, then as I'm looking at whatever fell to the floor, "it just fell." That is it. The Lord wants me to live in truth and not in the "What is going on?" moments. All those questions, sidestep Faith, cloud things up and they lead us to overlook what sometimes is right in front of us: the Truth.
Jesus, is the way, the truth and the life. (Period!)
Have a great day!
— Brian Rainey
