THE WINDOW- PSALMS 36;7.
If you ever visit a closed prison, one of the musts is to have a look at where prisoners are held. As a rule the officers will have warned the carefully chosen inmate selected to be mine host to expect visitors,therefore ensuring as far as possible that the cell will be clean and tidy.Whether or not they do it for safety in numbers must remain a matter of conjecture,but it's not unusual for about ten guests somehow to squeeze into a space designed to take two.
Where as comment is often made on how small the cell is or on how it's cosy -it is with ten there -it can be guaranteed someone will remark on the size of the WINDOW,the bars across the window or just how little can be seen of the outside world. It is true. If the prisoner is fortunate they might get a view that reaches beyond the walls,but usually it is no more than the next cell block,or barbed wire surrouding the concret exercise yard,with a bit of blue sky on a summer's day.
it is usually as limited as that,and so the prisoners freedom. This confinement is the real meaning of the punishment. When one is released he/she experience the bigger picture of the world and its beauty and the gift of freedom.The importance of anything is known when you loose it. This may lead one to say '' I was tied both hands,legs mind and soul by the evil one until God rescued me and I m free indeed''.
The same is true for you and me when we are not free from those experiences,influences,or deeply ingrained habits that limit our lives as Christians. Because of the things that restrict our relationship with God,we can only ever hope to see in part the glory of God in the world around us,or more significantly in each other. We need to understand that although we can't always see it,let alone know it perfectly,there is a BIGGER picture known only to God ,and trust that when God invites us to discern his will for our lives he does so because he sees more than we do.
''How precious is your steadfast love O God,
All people may take refuge in the shadow of your wings.'' AMEN.
|