Let none fall

In third chapter of the first book of Samuel, Samuel is first visited by God. Now it was an expected thing to readers of this testament - he had been prayed over, been offered (by his mother!) for the purpose, and had been growing in acceptance, presumably because he was prudent - all signs that God's hand was in his life. If I may, I would like to draw your attention to the nineteenth verse, where it says "And Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground."

Consider this - several things are happening in this single verse.

"Samuel grew ...."

It does not say he is aging, or maturing, or gaining knowledge, so we do not, at first clause, know in what manner he is growing. Likely, though it refers to all three - this is validated in the following verse, where it indicates he was established to be a prophet of the Lord. This likely was a blow to Eli, but Eli had been prepared to some degree, and God had already told Eli some of what was soon to happen, and this was complemented by what God told Samuel - in particular, that no matter the sacrifice or offering, Eli's house would not be cleansed of the sin that he and his sons had engaged in.

"... the LORD was with him ..."

This is amazing in and of itself, and in this day and age would be considered an immense blessing. During the time of the writing, it was far more rare - the word of the Lord was precious in those days. Consider a world where the Holy Bible, the anointed Word of the Lord, was not a collected work, not in a single tome, but still split asunder. Consider how amazing it is that anyone would fear the Lord without the infrastructure we normally associate with Godly families and the church. Then consider that God was with Samuel while he was growing up. Samuel must have had miracles follow him, and likely prepared him to be the prophet for the Lord that he soon would be.

"... [Samuel] did let none of his words fall to the ground."

It is this part of the verse that struck me, something that hit me home, and something that I note for all of us. How many of you who read these words have been prophesied over, have had a word of knowledge about the future in any way, or (at the very least) have had an inkling from God how your life will unfold? Have you put any active thoughts into it? Samuel did. Samuel put into action and realization the guidance God was giving him. We do not know exactly what he did, but we know that Samuel was growing, that the Lord was with him, and that Samuel let none of his words fall to the ground. Would you have been that faithful?

Call to action:

Spend some time in prayer, whether by reading scripture or silent reverie or whatever God has called you to in that regard, and seek God's guidance on some matter. It may come from the Bible, it may come from a license plate, it may come from some accidental utterance on behalf of a co-worker.

Listen for God. He will take as long as He needs to and will speak. This part of it is often more difficult than any other, as it calls for an active inactivity - to be seeking God's voice without doing anything to achieve the connection. Now you can inhibit your connection, but the point here is that you are trusting God to provide the means and connection, but being open for its establishment.

Keep Him in your heart. There will be a point where you have some awareness that God has spoken to you. It also often comes with some guidance, or at least a word of knowledge. If you do not have peace, go back a step and listen for God again. He can and does work miracles, so how He will handle that is up to Him. I have experienced Him not talking for a few seconds or minutes, waiting to see if I were faithful, sometimes hours as well. Regardless, wait upon God.

If you DO have peace about this word of knowledge, this connection with God, then act on it. Store it in your heart. Plan on it coming to pass and let none of the words of the Lord fall to the ground.

May your life never be the same.

Inherit the Wind

Those old-time Greeks had an interesting paradigm - that everything on the earth was made of some combination of earth, water, wind, fire, and sometimes void. Whole myths and perceptions fell from the minds that fashioned the world thus, and we have some of those same paradigms still around us, dangerous relics from that culture where worship of the human form came nearly above worship of gods, and many ruler’s sole assurance of immortality was either sculpture or public ascension.

If I may broach this subject, one of the more interesting ideas is likely to be untraceably ancient, that of associating human characteristics to those very same four elements. We might say that earth is stable, water is fluid, wind is flighty, and fire is passionate. These are fairly common associations; so common, in fact, that I believe I would be hard pressed to find someone who didn’t intuitively pick up on those associations.

So, another perspective, when evaluating human characteristics, is to ask which of those four attributes (stability, fluidity, flightiness, or passion) would be least desirable as the foundation for a house, for a home, for the basis of one’s centered self. Let us consider each.

Obviously the most desirable is the earth’s namesake: stability. Through stability, one can be assured that a home is a home. We might very well say that the character of a home is its ability to resemble this very quality. Hands down, the favored element, if were forced to pick only one. But no human can live in a vacuum, and stability by itself does not a home make.

Second, I might mention fluidity. Certainly not as desirable as stability, when a home’s foundation is established on water (say a house boat) you still have a fundamentally stable surface. Your home might be mobile (on wheels) or your home might be mobility itself (gypsies) but there is a stability that you carry with you in fluidity.

Third would be passion. Many are the relationship that are established in passion. Some last for years, and either add stability (fire to stone) or fluidity (fire to water); neither of these transitions is easy, but at least one is required for any kind of permanence. And so one must allow for the endurance of fire.

But, ah, to be flighty. The very word conjures up birds flittering about, dancing among burning leaves, spring flowers or summer’s dandelion tufts, and it is in this very winged twittering that I lay focus: there is no rest. And there is no home. So a home which inherits the wind is truly lacking a solid foundation, is truly based on a destructive premise, and is very nearly calling its own demise.

How can one inherit the wind?
The most common way of inheriting the wind is to trouble your own house.

This is bringing the drama of the world inside your bedroom.
This is abusing your own family.
This is stealing from your brother, murdering your sister, laundering goods without telling your family, or any more of dozens of ways in which tumult can be simply and quietly brought into a home.
Its what happens when you sleep on an argument with a spouse.

So how does one choose NOT to inherit the wind?

Don’t bring trouble into your home.
Pray before you enter your house.
Take a moment of silence to honor the dead.
Sit and just calm yourself.

So my challenge to you is this:
Find the one person in your family that causes you the most distress, the most irritation.
Set aside time, five minutes a day, finding a quite space, and, without judgment, find something nice and positive to say about them. You may not have a better relationship with that person (although often it is a fruit of this action) but you will likely be more positive with them AND better able to deal with those idiosyncrasies that were driving you crazy before.

Choose joy.