Forego Foraging Forbidden Fruit
I know a guy who found himself in a financial morass a few years back; a foreclosure and a subsequent divorce and his living conditions changed dramatically. He lost most all of his material possessions. It happen so quick that he did not have the option of obsessing over what turned out to be only dispensable stuff that we can't take with us when we leave this life anyway. In a matter of a couple years he went from being the association president in an upscale neighborhood to a resident in a high turnover community he refers to as "the hood." The transition landed him into a small low rent house in a neighborhood where he could not distinguish between fireworks and gunshots, especially on the 4th of July! He speaks of hearing regularly all kinds of new sounds from disturbingly loud expletive laden domestic arguments and the whine of police sirens, to the more pleasing sound of children's music broadcasting through the loudspeakers on an ice cream truck.
My friend often speaks of the humbling effect of his relocation experience. He has come to believe our Creator prunes us back from time to time so we might bear richer fruit in His Kingdom. Were my friend to have viewed his current abode and neighborhood from the lofty illusion of his former home, he would have judged them homely. Now he can sit on his back porch and see a bit of heaven on earth.
My friend often speaks of the humbling effect of his relocation experience. He has come to believe our Creator prunes us back from time to time so we might bear richer fruit in His Kingdom. Were my friend to have viewed his current abode and neighborhood from the lofty illusion of his former home, he would have judged them homely. Now he can sit on his back porch and see a bit of heaven on earth.
The Garden
It is amazing what we observe when we open our eyes and see from a humbled point of perspective. One day a year ago what typically he would characterize as the mundane or maybe even drab view of the neighborhood from the back deck changed dramatically See: The Split in the Garden. His view has never been the same.
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Recently while he was washing dishes, the man now retired, was peering out the window above the kitchen sink into the back yard. He noticed that where the big oak had split from the powerful lighting strike, a strange but familiar branch was protruding from another tree behind and it looked like a giant snake.
Sink Window
One of the effects of this man's humbling is a faith that instructs "Take nothing for granted!" Our Creator speaks to us in so many ways and expressions, at all times. If we are seeking His presence, we will be amazed at our enlightenment. From every angle my friend watches out for the serpent in his garden daily.
Our faith requires a diligent practice of obedience to our Creator so we might grow continually in our relationship with Him. For this friend of mine, it is a daily back yard reminder to forego the foraging of forbidden fruit. Be in the world not of the world.
The Fall, Genesis 3:1(NIV)
"Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals
the Lord God had made..........."
Amen Brother
Bradford Bosworth
July, 2017
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