As you may have noticed, I have been blogging less often than usual during the last few weeks.
Indeed, I have just turned the page of just over than 10 years of life! My family and I have left the country that has welcomed us since September 2000, for a new adventure. This whole experience has inspired me a few reflections :
10 years is long, but 10 years is also short :
We generally do not realize that time is flying: it is as if it was yesterday. But if we bring things at the scale of a child arriving in a country at less than a year old and leaving at 11, it then makes all the difference. This realization led me to reflect on the brevity of life which also runs so insidiously that, before one realizes that time have long passed, it is already time for the Great Departure. I have even recently heard with a lot of displeasure, the news of the death of a former schoolmate…
Say move and say separations.
Material separations: It is time for great cleaning and riddance. We have to throw away, give away or sell so many things that have seemed to matter to us in the past. As for the things that we obstinately want to take along, a little bit of breakage during the transit will quickly settle the matter. There are also all those things which had been forgotten in a corner that are found and rediscovered. What I note is that this must also take place at the spiritual level. We must get rid of everything that will not effectively help us to progress in our new adventure and we must also sometimes re-learn the meaning of forgotten/neglected values and Bible verses. Ideally we should actually move regularly from one spiritual level to the other, without having to wait for the opportunity of a physical move (which is not always frequent).
Affective separations: We have to look at - perhaps for the last time - many people with whom we have shared all kinds of experiences and that we have come to love. Abraham had to part from Lot that he had yet embarked with him. This is a good reminder that alone we came on this earth and alone we shall depart. The course of our lives is unique. Should we then avoid to cleave to avoid suffering? Difficult to say and also difficult to do. Even Jesus had a hard time with it: “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful to death…”
Spiritual separations: This goes far beyond simply moving churches. Neighbourhoods, cities, countries, political, administrative or economic institutions are under the control of powers and territorial spirits that very often influence how those under their ‘jurisdiction’ think and act. Getting away from their grip is not easy, and then sometimes we like the 'French', the 'Cameroonian', the 'U.S.' etc. model or way of life and have no desire to go elsewhere. The episode of the golden calf is a fine example of this difficulty. The children of Israel worshipped the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob whom they had just learned the Name, YHWH, through Moses. However, at the first opportunity, when they wanted to make a representation of that God, they carved Him as a calf: a reminiscence of the Egyptian bull-god Apis, who was a symbol of fertility, sexual power and physical force. You see, it is not enough to leave a place, a job or even a church: one must also know how to and be able to break away from the gods of that place, that office or that church.
Say move, and also say movement
I remembered that we are really just passing on Earth and that NO earthly thing is final or to remain. This is why God asked Moses to build a Tabernacle that was to be assembled and ‘dis-assembled’ all the time. As it is often said, ‘‘No condition is permanent.’’ Let’s always be ready to leave, and especially, ready to go back to Him from Whom we came.
Finally, say move out, and say move in, hence adjustment and fitting in.
Here as well, things are far from obvious. It takes a certain time to fit in the new life; a certain while to be fully operational at the new level. There are a lot of trials and errors before finding the right combinations. During this period, one has to be exceptionally alert and teachable, because no matter one realizes it or not, THINGS HAVE CHANGED; Old things have passed away and behold ALL THINGS ARE NEW! The mindset has to be renewed and some more trinkets that were thought to be indispensables finally reveal themselves to be worthless.
To sum it up, let me say this:
1) We don’t move out by caprice or our own will: God Himself, must give the starting signal. The children of Israel could only dismantle camp when the pillar of fire or the cloud, both types of the Spirit of God, moved.
2) Moving out teaches us to go to what is essential and to content ourselves with what is really useful. It teaches us not to clutter our lives with vain frills. Once we have removed this ballast, we quickly realize that the nacelle of our social, professional, and / or spiritual life goes higher to reach unexpected heights. Jesus used to say: “And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell.” And also, “"Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life.” (Mark 9:43-47 et 10:29-30)
In other words, if any of your physical, material, moral or spiritual possessions may hinder your spiritual ascension in Christ, get rid of it without remorse or hesitation and you will reap the fruits a hundredfold. It is hard, yes, but it is good…
Here has come 2011; we have resolved not just to wait on God to do something for us, but instead, we have planned to ‘‘surprise Him’’ this year by doing something for Him. Now who knows? A small offload might just make the task much easier: let’s think about it…
My prayer is that free from all those spiritual junk, you may take the eagle flight and soar very high.
Once again, I wish you an Excellent 2011.
God bless you.
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