Clearing Out A Space!
If you have lived in the South any length of time you have heard someone say
words that go like this, “Well, he/she just cleared out a space and had a fit!”
This has nothing to do with any type of seizure or neurological disorder, but
rather describes someone who is utterly disgusted at not being heard and so
they very deliberately get a listening for their unheard words by rather descriptive
means, i.e. they have a fit!
Everyone who reads these words will understand what I am writing about. Parents, at times, need to get their child’s attention and when nothing works, parental behavior may well become agitated and a bit explosive. Actually, when done on a rare basis it is pretty effective behavior on the part of the parent. When overdone, it gets ignored.
It is hugely frustrating to be ignored and to feel our emotions and even our worth as a person are just not important enough for someone or group, to give us the basic dignity of hearing us out. To deliberately shut another out is to run the potential risk of wounding or angering them. Perhaps that person has something to say we need to hear but do not want to. It could be a positive for both parties to engage in two-way communication in order to reach a mutual place of understanding. Such an undertaking requires both sharing and listening and a certain amount of grace. A graceless approach would be to assume that the other has nothing of value (thereby they are valueless) to engage you with.
On this Sunday, March 4, Jesus is making his way to Jerusalem, where he will be so disgusted by humanity’s cultivated deafness to the message of the Gospel, that he throws over tables in the Temple and scourges the culprits out of the precincts. Jesus cleared out a space and had a fit! His behavior was not unreasonable or pathological in any way, for what was at stake was the salvation of souls and what could possibly be more important than that?
I cannot speak for you, but I will say that there are times when the Holy Spirit has a, much deserved, tantrum of spiritual shakeup in my own soul. I have to be stopped in my headstrong manner and my ears need to be opened to the message of God I am not hearing, but
so badly need to.
See you in church on Sunday and be prepared, or at least be open, to the Holy Spirit shaking you up. Let Jesus enter the courts of your Temple and allow Him to clean up the house a little bit!
Everyone who reads these words will understand what I am writing about. Parents, at times, need to get their child’s attention and when nothing works, parental behavior may well become agitated and a bit explosive. Actually, when done on a rare basis it is pretty effective behavior on the part of the parent. When overdone, it gets ignored.
It is hugely frustrating to be ignored and to feel our emotions and even our worth as a person are just not important enough for someone or group, to give us the basic dignity of hearing us out. To deliberately shut another out is to run the potential risk of wounding or angering them. Perhaps that person has something to say we need to hear but do not want to. It could be a positive for both parties to engage in two-way communication in order to reach a mutual place of understanding. Such an undertaking requires both sharing and listening and a certain amount of grace. A graceless approach would be to assume that the other has nothing of value (thereby they are valueless) to engage you with.
On this Sunday, March 4, Jesus is making his way to Jerusalem, where he will be so disgusted by humanity’s cultivated deafness to the message of the Gospel, that he throws over tables in the Temple and scourges the culprits out of the precincts. Jesus cleared out a space and had a fit! His behavior was not unreasonable or pathological in any way, for what was at stake was the salvation of souls and what could possibly be more important than that?
I cannot speak for you, but I will say that there are times when the Holy Spirit has a, much deserved, tantrum of spiritual shakeup in my own soul. I have to be stopped in my headstrong manner and my ears need to be opened to the message of God I am not hearing, but
so badly need to.
See you in church on Sunday and be prepared, or at least be open, to the Holy Spirit shaking you up. Let Jesus enter the courts of your Temple and allow Him to clean up the house a little bit!
Comments
Post a Comment