Pets

What is a pet? Something beloved, something time is spent with, something important. Not as important, perhaps, as some things, but important enough that one thinks about the welfare of the said pet. 
I've doctored many animals over the years, from tropical fish to dairy cows. There is a satisfaction in watching thriving animals eating, drinking water, enjoying the sunshine. A warm pleasure which fills your heart near to breaking. 

I imagine this is a look through two way mirrors at what we would have had, had sin not enters our life. The satisfaction of seeing things thrive---animals glossy coats sparking in the sun, birdsong reverberating through the trees, faithful pets wandering serenely at our side as they desire: cheetahs, horses, goats, dogs. Make your list. The plants shimmer with green health, the flowers beyond descriptions. And best of all, there He is. 

Our pet today is an ugly creature. A hideous, warty, infected wound of a creature...and yet we give it all of our attention. We feed it daily, hourly, minutes by minutes. It grows, starving us as it does so. Our pet is Sin. 
We each have a pet Sin. That Sin may change, too----Sin is a clever creature. It sees when the "food of attention" wanes, and morphs from the caterpillar of disease to the butterfly of destruction. Sin devastated the world to its present state, and continues a path of destruction.

We have all been given the ability to take our pet to the pound, to a place where the pet cannot hurt us nor anyone else. 
Pet Sins are hard to get rid of. We don't see the infected part of the pet---we "think" we see great beauty and joy. We don't. We really are looking suffering in the face and encouraging it. Welcoming it into our home. 
Mine is fear. Always has been. I suspect it will always be trying to get into my home. 
We have the key...God knew we would fall. But He loved us so much He made us anyway, knowing some of us would prefer the Sin-pet. He planned a way to help us be close to Him, to fight off sin. 

The verse about not being tempted beyond our strength (reference escapes me) always bothered me. Because I was always failing and being tempted beyond my strength. The thing is...I was always relying on my strength alone. My strength alone is not enough. If there is not enough in me to create my own salvation, how could I withstand temptations? 
I don't. We withstand them. There are two "we" methods to putting down Pet-Sin. The first is to ask God for strength and wisdom. As I have said, those two have rarely not been answered for me---strength especially has been provided. God is perfect, and cannot stand Pet-Sin. Of course He will withstand it whatever Pet-Sin says we should do---He is perfect and knows the  best. He covers us with His great loving arms, shielding us from the attacks of Pet-Sin, especially when we ask. It is only when we go it alone, sure of our own godhood strength that we will win which finds us falling into the pit of pornography,cheating, stealing, gossip etc. Or when we just don't care and watch out for Pet-Sin that Pet-Sin takes over our lives until we don't even recognize ourselves; neither does anyone else. 
The other "we" is adding another person to the Pet-Sin fight. When we share our struggle with another, especially one who has the same trouble, and have the great love of God...a great battle is won against feeding out favorite pet. It is very hard for Pet-Sin to get in our homes when we are speaking to someone who is facing the same battle. The battles are pointed out often enough to disturb any settlement of Pet-Sin. More prayers happen too. 

The battles against sin are not easy. Especially when other things are going on to try us all the more: sickness, deaths, joblessness etc.
. With each new battle won, a deeper and more amazing understanding of God is seen. Trials past shine from the glimmer of time with points of God's love and reasoning for it----even while the misery of the time is hard. I guess that makes me think of the story Christ said of a woman in labor, miserable...but so incredibly happy at the end because a new baby was born. Our trials here are sometimes horrendous, but there can be such great joy at the end of it. 

RA overwhelms me. I see no point to it, I see no point in being nauseated to the point of not eating for days, having days of pain so bad I lay on my couch bed and sob, going from an active nursing career to struggling to make it a few hours a week to a volunteer job. I've gone from being so active with young couples my own age to talking to (beloved, oh! so beloved) people in their 60s or older because I act like someone in that age group. My health matches someone in that age group...
I see no point. 
But!!! I have seen God take me through a "hell" I thought I would never escape. A hell of praying to eat a single mouthful of food and not throw it back up. Counting calories and trying to raise them and barely making 600 a day. I've seen Him give strength.  I've seen Him help me. More times than I could count.
This has a point. I just don't see it. My answer to the question posed by the pastor on Sunday, "What do you do when you feel God is distant, or your prayers are not answered?" was perhaps shifted...mainly because God does not forsake us, we ignore Him. He may feel distant, but. He is always there He said he never forsake us...it just is our own sinful location in life. That we are looking for a shout, not a whisper. We aren't listening for His response, we're listing for our wanted response.
. My answer was more to the question of "what do you do when there's no reason to whats happening; when you don't know what God expects?"    
I act as if I am going to be hit. A big wind, a big wave. A large dog. I am digging my feet into the ground, leaning forward, clenching teeth and fists, hanging onto my spot. There is no point that I see. But I will walk the straight and narrow, I will not be forced into taking back my Pet-Sin...though the sneaking thing always gets into my house, it does not have to stay here. I will call for the strength of God, and rest in His great love and joy. For He never forsakes us or leaves us. Why would He---He died for us! No one who died for someone would abandon them, they are too dear for words to be left after such a cost. Rest certain He is near, holding you always.