The Lion Sleeps Tonight

Still trying out the new boots in the house, so I headed out for a short walk in my old wellies, unaware of just how icy it was underfoot. My ability to focus in on God and a meditative, prayerful walk was undermined by the necessity of paying attention to every step I took. I have two good friends who have broken wrists or hands when a confident step forward was sabotaged by an icy patch.

Every day I step out into my life, wanting to maintain a conversational relationship with the Lord. Every day I encounter icy patches which distract me and draw my attention to them, cautious lest I slip and fall. May I have confidence today  in the Lord’s ability to hold me fast through all potential hazards, so that I can maintain a lively relationship with him. I’m still thinking about how peacefully the lion slept beside me in that dream the other night, confident that all was well.

In him (Jesus, not the lion!), all is well.

Appeasing the Lion

Imagery of the wild and untamed world yet again. Too much cheese? Or is God speaking? I know what I think: see what you think.

So last night I had a powerful dream which I actually remembered when I awoke. I was back home in Long Beach, on Josie Avenue, in the bedroom I grew up in at the house my Mom sold a couple of years ago now. I was in ‘my’ bedroom lying down in a double bed. I was sharing the bed with a lion, a male lion with the full mane. While I regarded him with apprehension, he slept peacefully. 

Somehow I knew that Mom was in the house somewhere, and that there were an additional two lions in the house too - lionesses. I wasn’t terrified; I didn’t run away or rush to warn Mom or try to kill the lion(s), but with a measure of anxiety in my heart I headed to the fridge to find something to feed the lion when he awoke. I had a very real fear that otherwise I would be his next meal. 

I retrieved what I thought was a chunk of cheese from the pretty empty fridge, only to discover it was butter. Somehow I thought that he might have been satisfied with a chunk of cheese, but that butter just would not do the trick.

Just back from a walk where I examined the dream with God, sure there are depths in there that need plumbing. For now, what I understand is that although I am in ‘bed’ with God, I’m not trusting that he is happy just to have me near. I feel I need to placate him somehow, to bring him offerings from my ‘store cupboard’, and without such gifts of appeasement I just might come a cropper and be devoured by him. 

Considering my previous two blogs about the real wild enemy who does seek to devour us, I know in my heart that my loving heavenly Father does not want to devour me but keep me safe. I need that knowledge to penetrate to my very being so that my thoughts and actions reflect that truth.

It occurs to me that it’s incredible that He has enough confidence in me to ‘sleep’, trusting that I will not betray him, and yet I often lie awake at night trying to work out ways of ‘fixing’ things in my life so that I and my family will conform to his expectations – or hopes – for us...not trusting him to fix things as only he can do.

Come to me, he invites us, everyone who is weary and bearing a heavy burden, and I will give you rest, give you peace, give you a break. My prayer for myself, and for us all, is that I will deepen my trust in Him so that I can lie down and sleep in peace, knowing that He is near, protecting, guarding, and loving me – not for how well I’m ‘fixing’ things but for trusting him to fix them.

Gale Force Winds

The sun is warm and smiling in a mottled sky, while grey and white clouds stream past it carried along on the high winds. In like a lion (March 1st) and out like a lion (March 31st) it seems this year. Not a lamb in sight.

High in the sky but also down here on earth, the winds are fierce and icy. Too wild to take the fireside ash out to deposit in the bin – I would have been covered in grey grit myself. Too unpredictable to venture out in. 

Or am I missing something by hunkering down inside? Is there exhilaration and drama to be found out there in the wild winds? Perhaps, though in my imagination the only drama is in dodging a flying tree branch!

Some churches, some Christians, avoid exposing themselves to the unpredictable and wild winds of the Holy Spirit. They shut their hearts and their doors, metaphorically speaking, to his presence and prefer the safe version they choose to believe. A Holy Spirit who comforts and teaches, who inspires and guides. Which is true but isn’t all he does.

The Spirit blows where he wills, Scripture says. Nobody knows why, or where he came from, or where he is going. But the disciples on that first Pentecost couldn’t exclude him from the upper room, and when he blew in he blew out any resistance and fear and filled them with faith and power. 

I may choose to stay inside today while the wild wind whips round the building, but I am open and willing for the Holy Spirit to blow wild and untamed in my life, inspiring my thoughts and energising my faith and giving me power to live life to the full and see Jesus’ kingdom come and his will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.