“Trapped inside this body.” “Trapped inside my mind”. “Caught between a rock and a hard place.” These are just some of the clichés we use to describe that “feeling” (and even maybe the reality) of being in an impossible place, or situation out of which we cannot see our way. Not only does it look and sound impossible, it feels negative and ominous. Very rarely do we look at being “trapped” as being a positive thing, at least not while we’re in it.
As psychologists (and ministers of the gospel) we are trained to help others (and ourselves) to learn to see the glass as half-full rather than half-empty, even though it’s the same amount of liquid. J You say “po-tAt-o” and I say “po-TaT-o”. Hmmm, the exact letters, the same food, but it’s all in the pronunciation, or in how you see and hear a thing. (Or taste it. I still love French Fries, my favorite way to eat a po-tAt-o or po-TaT-o, but if you give me a baked po-tAt-o with cheese, bacon bits, chives and onions and butter, I will not get offended not one bit. Neither will I feel trapped in a negative way by the calories.) Anyhoooo, still we too are human experiencing life which is not always flavorful. We still have to be realistic, yet we cannot let our current and present reality become our thermostat, only the thermometer.
I recall from my own life experiencing some life-changing situations, disappointments, surprises with “no way out”. I not only felt trapped but I was trapped by my past decisions and choices (even though they seemed good and positive at the time, and I had no regrets or reasons to regret them). Commitments, loyalties, obligations, contracts, covenants, legal decisions, etc. When you say “yes” to a new job offer with better pay and benefits, you breathe a sigh of relief and make plans for a better and different future. There is nothing wrong with that at all. The only problem is “life happens” and keeps on happening no matter what positive or negative things are happening for, with, without or against you. And there you are “trapped” by your name on the dotted line. Can you say “lay-offs”, “down-sizing” and “pink slips”? What about “memos”? Hmmm.
That’s just one way I’ve personally experienced feeling trapped. Here of late I’ve been assessing my life in conjunction with my relationship to God, the church, the ministry, God’s Word, and to be honest with you I have felt trapped. Now most “religious” people who feel they must defend God would get offended by my statement, and that would be their right and their prerogative, for after all, I used to be just like them. I used to get offended for God over the least little thing, until I began to let His Word and nature transform my character. God doesn’t need me to defend Him against myself neither anyone else, and neither does He want me to spend my time doing that. He’s a big God and can take care of Himself. I need Him to take care of me. Hmmm. Three m’s that time.
Anyhoooo, I’ve been feeling trapped by my commitment to God, the call upon my life, even the anointing. Why? Because with them comes responsibility to live the Word of God we call The Holy Bible. It does not mean I am perfect for no one is, and neither will we ever be in this life. However, as a child of God and as ministers we are always judged more harshly by our brothers and sisters in the Body of Christ. We cannot pick our nose, clean our ears or floss our teeth in public without someone making a fuss about it. J We are held to a higher standard of conduct than anyone else, yet we are disbelieved and mistreated more harshly than anyone else. On the one hand people will say “they’re only human. Why do they think they know more than we do? After all I hear from God too.” But as soon as our humanity shows, church people (and non, who know absolutely nothing about being a disciple of Jesus the Christ) will sing another song, “He’s (she’s) a minister and should know better.” And why is that pre-tell when we all have the same access and opportunities to learn and know exactly what “better” is?
As a child of God and a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ I cannot date the first man I see (neither do I want to), and neither can I marry the first man who proposes to me (and neither do I want to do that). But neither can I just run around with any and everyone without thinking about consequences. I cannot go any and everywhere which may be, and seem to be harmless to those who are not children of God through Jesus the Christ. And let’s make one thing clear here so we can be in the same story book: God is the Creator of everyone in the entire world. He loves everyone the same, and He gave His Son Jesus the Christ to reconnect us to Himself as children are connected to their father. But not everyone in the entire world thinks of Him as Father. Not everyone wants to worship or love Him, or obey Him or seek Him, and adore Him as Father. Not everyone even believes He exists. Therefore He is not the FATHER of everyone. There is a difference. Your daddy may be the principle of the school, but He’s not everyone’s daddy. Just your daddy, and any other children who may adopt him as daddy and be adopted by him. Yet he is the principle over everyone in the school. (Read the book of Romans for more on adoption.)
People claim to believe in a Higher Power, something (and maybe Someone – male or female, mother or father) bigger than themselves, but yet they don’t want to call Him “Father” or God until we start talking in the context of being “God’s children”. Hmmm, please make up your mind so you can stop being confused and walking on both sides of the street. That’s a good way to get hit by a truck. J
No, I’m not defensive but just sharing what I’m feeling at this Christmas season of 2011. No, I don’t have a Christmas blog message for they’re all over the place. As a matter of fact as I write this the movie “Shrek II” is playing in my DVD player and has given me my next blog topic. LOL!! So you see where I get some of my inspiration. LOL!! But back to my original focus.
When people say they are trapped, the first thing we do is ask questions like, “why do you feel trapped?” What’s happening in your life to make you think you’re trapped? Trapped by what? Exactly what are you referring to? What do you want to do (or where do you want to go) that you cannot, and what is preventing you from doing what you believe you want to do? Who holds the keys to your “prison doors”? What can you do about that? Why do they hold the keys? Who gave them the keys? Do they have the rights to those keys? (Who really has the rights to the keys to someone else’s existence? Hmmm.) Is your assessment of your situation real or from your emotions? Has the expiration date for your current place in life come and gone? If so, then it is time for you to move on. If not, then you're not trapped. There's still some milk in that cow for you.
And if you’re in a place you hope to never end up in again in the future once you get out, these may be some of the questions you may need to ask yourself NOW so you can learn from this experience: What choices and decisions did I make which have landed me on this island, this planet, in this cave, in this marriage, in this relationship, on this job, in debt, etc.? What’s inside of me that moves me to make those kinds of decisions etc.? (This question must be investigated and dealt with because everything we do on the outside is first inside of us, and this is from where history will repeat itself. Believe me, I know.) What is one thing I can do differently today which I’ve never done which can change ME so I can change my environment, that I may eventually change my situation? Can you see the progression here? All lasting change begins from inside of ourselves, and right now as I write, I am counseling myself. Really, Holy Spirit Who lives within me – the Great Counselor, is counseling me. J Maybe it’s a thought and a belief. Maybe that’s where you need to start. Maybe that’s where I need to start.
Another way of looking at this feeling and place of being trapped is to turn the coin onto its other side and ask positive questions. For instance, “What have I learned about life, myself, people, God, finances, health, etc. from being where I am now? What are the benefits of this situation? What is it keeping me from doing? What is it protecting me from? Have I milked this cow dry and gleaned from it all I can before moving on to the next desired change in my life? Have others been helped by me from being in this situation, and if so, how have they been helped? What has it prepared me to do? What is it empowering me and allowing me to do? Am I really ready to move forward into the new that I think I want to experience? What do I have on hand that can help me make a positive move?
Trapped. I guess no one felt more trapped than the donkey that fell in the well, and the woman who bled for many years and could not get healed. Most of you know the story of the donkey which fell into the well whose owner had no way of getting him out. So he decided to do the most humane thing he could think of: bury the donkey in the well with dirt. So that’s what the farmer did. He continued to shovel dirt on top of the donkey in the well and the donkey would shake it off and pack it under his feet. After a while the farmer would look down and still see the donkey, for he thought of course that the donkey would be under the dirt. So he continued, and so did the donkey. After a second and third look the farmer realized that the donkey was rising on the dirt, not dying under it, and eventually the donkey walked out of the well on dry ground. J When we feel trapped we tend to use extreme terms like “dying”, “under the weight of this or that”, “can’t see no way out”, “the weight of the world is on my shoulders”, “there’s no one I can call”. Just to name a few.
Imagine yourself bleeding every day of the week, month, year after year non-stop, and living in a society which “knows your business” for everyone knows you’re “unclean” and it is illegal for you to be around people, especially men. (Makes me like less the song, “This is a Man’s World.”) Yet the doctors are men and they don’t have a problem coming into your unclean house to examine you and take all your unclean cash until you have no more resources for any more doctors. And they can’t even cure you. Hmmmm. Sounds like our current healthcare system. Talk about being trapped in your body. What’s the alternative? Where do you go? Who can you call? (Ghost Busters? Well you could, but I’m just not sure if the Stay-Puff Marshmallow Man will be of good help. Maybe with some hot chocolate for comfort.)
Seems like we can’t count on those who are supposed to care for us (the farmer gave up on his donkey and decided to bury him alive), neither can we always count on those who are educated to be able to “cure” what ails us. Yes indeedy, we do need to believe in and call on “A Higher Power”. This bleeding woman made her way to Jesus to get her out of her trapped situation. You can find her story in Luke’s gospel chapter 8:43-48. I will give you the first two verses, and you can read the rest for yourself, “And a woman who had suffered from a flow of blood for twelve years and had spent all her living upon physicians, and could not be healed by anyone, Came up behind Him and touched the fringe of His garment, and immediately her flow of blood ceased.” [Amplified Bible]
She did something she had never done before. She did something she was told she could not do, which was socially unacceptable. But she was trapped and no one could help her thus far. Drastic needs call for drastic measures. One of the other gospels tells us what she thought, that “if I can just get to Jesus and touch the hem of His garment, I will be made WHOLE” (not just healed physically.). She believed that Jesus would be able to restore her mentally, emotionally, physically and socially, and guess what? He did just that, all with just one touch. Because He acknowledged her in front of everyone He restored to her her dignity in the community which would allow her to come out of her home, where she was trapped in and by her body. She could get a job. She could become someone’s wife. Maybe she could become a mother too.
So now I do a hmmmmmm on myself and I think about my thoughts to see if they are trapping me, or opening another door for me. Something to think about.
No comments:
Post a Comment