Try those Wings...
By Glacier GruffDear Newly Free'd, former Captive:
Greetings from the Spiritual Nunatak, up in the SUN, once again...
I heard that Mr. _________ troubled you. You know, the phone calls, the questions of "your loyalty to the work." So I thought it would be easier to send you a letter, since the situation was very familiar to both myself and Mrs. Gruff.
We, too, sat, and waited for the phone-calls from Headquarters, our stomachs full of knots and butterflies..it was VERY disconcerting....it was very UNCOMFORTABLE, really. The more we dreaded it the more angry I became. Why in the WORLD should I be nervous about a phone call????
Because it was much like waiting for my father's disapproval-to-come, something I KNEW was coming.
You see, when it was my father, it was because he caught me smoking...I broke the window...I ditched school...I got in a fight...I had deeply disappointed him.
But, it began to sink in that we didn't HAVE to please Denny...or Ted...or Jim...Vic....we were FREE!!! Who were THEY??? How come we had to please THEM??
Let me insert a poem we were sent by a very loving pastor rank minister....read it....it describes US....and the pain, and the misery we were going through, waiting for that phone call...
Realize, dear friend, that the incredible pain and fear you are feeling is exactly like suffering the death of a friend, and that the stress could make you SICK, if you don't take care of it. They don't care, either. They say they do, but, they are just mouthing words, in hopes of keeping you on your leash, your mental tether.
Read this, and HEAL, dear Nearly-Newly Liberated Sheep of God:
Do Not Be Ashamed Author-Wendall Berry
You will be walking some night in the comfortable dark of your yard...
And suddenly a great light will shine round about you,
And behind you will be a wall you never saw before.
It will be clear to you suddenly that you were about to escape,
And that you are guilty:
You misread the complex instructions,
You are not a member,
You lost your card or never had one.
And you will know that they have been there all along,
Their eyes on your letters and books,
Their hands in your pockets,
Their ears wired to your bed.
Though you have done nothing shameful,
They will want you to be ashamed.
They will want you to kneel and weep
and say you should have been like them.
And once you say you are ashamed,
Reading the page they hold out to you,
Then such light as you have made in your history
will leave you.
They will no longer need to pursue you.
You will pursue them, begging forgiveness.
They will not forgive you.
There is no power against them.
It is only candor that is aloof from them,
Only an inward clarity,
Unashamed,
That they cannot reach.
Be ready.
^^^^^^^^
When their light has picked you out and their questions are asked,
Say to them:
"I am not ashamed."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
A sure horizon will come around you.
The heron will begin his evening flight from the hilltop.
So, Nearly-Newly Free Friend, what does this have to do with us?
Let me rehearse what we see, and you will, I hope, understand.
The heron is flying now, and we, YOU and I, are flying along with it....
Feeling the free air of the sky fill our feathers for the
first time...
Have you ever dreamt a dream of flying?
This is REAL....
You and the Gruffs are FLYING in the evening sky....
We see lines of people,
Wings folded,
On ridges beyond....trying to flap..
Like You...
And there are lines of people in some dark valleys...
We look closely and see people yelling at the winged people
for not staying in line.
Can you imagine that?
Of course, they need to be guided in those dark valleys,
They might stumble and fall.
They are being told..."look at those poor 40,000 Lost and
Wandering, flying loose above..."
"Confused..."
"NO direction..."
"That could be YOU"
But why don't the guides stop yelling at the people..
Light the lights they have in their backpacks....
They have FLARES...
They could light them and everyone could see
Ditches...
Rocks....
Stumps!!!
It looks like the guides NEED the people to be in the dark?
The guides NEED validation?
Is THIS a way to get validation?
Nasty roots
The slippery places...
And we glide on in the sky....looking,
And we see people with wings walking on the ridge over there...
In a line....
And the guides are yelling at them....
Keeping them in line because they don't know the line....
Yet there is a voice though all this clamor....
"I am the way, the truth and the life....
"This is the way, walk ye in it....
"If any accept me they HAVE eternal life....
"If I come back, shall I find faith...
The people could glide in the air....
And the wind
The Pneuma
Would carry them on...
Suddenly we see a guide several ridges over....
He has taken out a flare....
And a misty looking net....
A gossamer net....
The heron ahead glides over to look...
And the gossamer net silently fills the air....
Got'cha..
It's wings fold as it gets in line with the other birds...
Dodos?
A few...
Ostriches?
A couple...
Eagles?
Lots...
Herons?
Myriads....
But the heron is walking....
And it is SO difficult for a heron to walk...
So Dear Newly-Free Friend, ending the poetry for a moment....
We've talked about it before...some take hamburger and gas fry it, others cook it on a hot iron grill. Some have their pattys square, some round.
Some add lettuce, mayonnaise....except in the cheap franchises...no mayo... some add tomatoes...some don't because they don't have the money to afford the tomatoes....some add relish....and they plop it in a piece of paper. It might say "In and Out" to attract the speedy food freak, or it might say McDonalds, or Burger King, or Bobs, or.....
But it is all hamburger. And Christ said HE was the master chef. He promised to feed his sheep! He left us Psalm 23 to show how he does it.....and NT scriptures about snakes to children, etc.
But, some HAVE to have a fence in which to walk, or they just DON'T feel like they are safe sheep....
They have forgotten that it is time for them to fly....but Christ says HE is responsible for them, and will bring them to the runway sooner or later.
Meanwhile....
We are solitary, as David described in his Psalm. We want to stay Solitary. We are going to duck the gossamer bird nets. We are going to stay in the air....out of sight, out of range, if you will.
So, Dearly-Departed (grin), New-Flyer, Nearly-Newly Freed...
Please read the other message I have included....the voice in the air, coming from a distant ridge. That is us....
Gliding out of sight....
Maybe this poem we received from a dear friend who used to be in Worldwide Church of God will explain YOU, and US, and ALL those who are called Lost, and Wandering...
Make this Y O U R biography:
AUTOBIOGRAPHY IN FIVE SHORT CHAPTERS by Portia Nelson
I. I walk, down the street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I fall in I am lost...I am helpless It isn't my fault. It takes forever to find a way out.
II. I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I pretend I don't see it. I fall in again. I can't believe I am in the same place. but, it isn't my fault. It still takes a long time to get out.
III. I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I see it is there. I still fall in...it's a habit. my eyes are open. I know where I am. It is my fault. I get out immediately.
IV. I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I walk around it.
V. I walk down another street
May grace, mercy, peace, accompany you in your "walk," actually a form of flying...
You see...the OTHER street is actually a run-way...isn't that a NEAT word.. RUN way...
Don't worry, you're already cleared for take-off...
Love
ffurG
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