"O" Is For Octopus

Arms that grab and entangle.  Tentacles with suckers that hold you fast.  Does it feel like those arms try to grab you, pull you in, and drain out every ounce of joy?  Sometimes I feel this octopus has more than eight arms.

As we swim and navigate through life, the arms, tentacles and suckers of this octopus threaten to suck all the joy out of our lives.  Keep us in the doldrums.  Cause anger or fear.  Hold us fast in the clutches of resentment and unforgiveness.

But the joy of the Lord is our strength!  I once heard Joyce Meyer say, “If Satan can’t steal your joy, he can’t steal your goods!” 

  

Remember the expression, "I felt like the rug was pulled out from under me?"  Here are some downward dragging, rug-pulling, joy-stealing tentacles that weary the Christian believer, and you could probably add some of your own:

• Friends disappoint
• Leaders and politicians lie
• Moral failures abound
• Violence troubles our nation
• Marriages fall apart
• Children go wayward
• Authority is despised
• Love for God grows cold
• God’s Word is ignored
• Homosexual agenda is relentless
• Moral relativism is honored
• Abortion
• Child abuse
• Pornography
• Child sex trafficking
• Family relationships break down
• Evening news is distressing
• Persecution
• Breakdown of our society
• Financial troubles
• Hopelessness  

I see this octopus with many suckers as a threat to living a joyful and victorious Christian life.   

I see this octopus cloaking itself in inky blackness as it tries a new approach to dislodge the believer from the Solid Rock.

I see this octopus retreating as the believer fights the good fight of faith by speaking the Word of God and encouraging himself and others in the Lord.

Recently a lovely young Christian mother said to me, “As a Christian in high school, I began dating a young man who I knew was not good for me.  He drank, smoked, and did things that were not good.  But I refused to break it off with him. 

“Then one night, I had a vivid dream.  I saw a little lamb with a rope around its neck being slowly pulled toward a cliff.  I heard these words, ‘A lamb led to the slaughter.’  I knew when I awoke that the little lamb was me.  I immediately broke things off with this guy, burned and got rid of everything I had in my possession that pertained to him.”

I liken the octopus’s tentacles and suckers to that rope around the lamb’s neck.  We believers in the Lord Jesus need to keep His word, and be aware and watchful of our beliefs and actions, lest we find ourselves being drawn away from the solid rock of truth. 

I think of Jesus’ words about the wise and foolish builders in Matthew 7:24-27 (NIV):

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like the wise man who built his house on the rock.  The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.  But everyone who does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.  The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew, and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

God holds all things together by the word of His power. (Hebrews 1:3 KJV)  I want to be held together, don't you?  Put His Word first place in your life; make God the final authority for your life.  

The rock is God’s Word, and the sand is the shifting stuff of man’s opinion.

Dear reader, don’t leave your house built on the rock and move to one that’s built on the sand.  Don’t let the octopus' arms, tentacles and suckers pull you off the sure foundation of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

If you’re struggling to keep your joy, stay in God's Word.  Find scriptures that pertain to your situation.  You may want to write them out on 3 x 5 cards and tape them to the fridge or a bathroom mirror.  Quote the Word of God aloud in every situation you face, believe and rest in the Word of God, then cling to it come hell or high water.  Train yourself to think on good things.  Stay on the Rock, and you’ll keep your joy! 

Copyright © 2013 Elaine Beachy

"N" Is For Noise

Would you like a frosty glass of iced tea while we chat a bit?  As I get it for you, think of the sounds you hear in the process: the glass clinking against another glass as I take it from the cupboard, the sound of ice plinking from the fridge dispenser into the glass, the sound of the fridge door opening and the tea being poured over the ice.  The sound the glass makes as I set the tea before you. 

A world without sound would be very strange.  So some sound is good, like the sound of a gurgling waterfall, the chirping of the birds, a music box, a happy tune on the radio or listening device, happy laughter, etc.  What’s the difference between sound and noise?

Noise is unpleasant sound that causes irritation, such as fingernails on a blackboard, a baby crying, people screaming, fighting and yelling, heavy traffic and honking horns in a crowded city… Anyone besides me remember sitting at a traffic light, having to endure the loud thump, thump, thump of car speakers blaring rap “music?”  Thumps so loud their car windows rattled and you felt the vibrations in your car?   

Even if sounds are not unpleasant, a day filled with constant sound such as having the radio or TV on can be wearying to my mind and body.  Talking heads and guests that talk over one another and argue loudly on TV news shows get on my nerves too.  I need times of quiet for good physical, mental, and spiritual health.  How about you?

Noise pollution is a modern plague.  If you’re a person with chronic fatigue, high blood pressure, depression or insomnia, you may want to check the levels of noise in your life.  If you have a hard time concentrating at work or feel tense, it may also be because of too much noise.

I need the luxury of a quiet hour or two for reading a good book.  Did you ever try to read a book while the TV or radio was blaring, people were talking, or you kept getting interrupted by questions or demands from others? 

Students need quiet to study and do homework.  (Sometimes I wonder how the Walton family members managed to have smart kids.  I remember watching episodes of the show where John Boy complained because he was interrupted so many times as he tried to study or write in his journal or read a book.  Others in the family complained, too, when they wanted peace and quiet.)

I’ve heard of moms who lock themselves in the bathroom to get some “alone time.”  Parenting young children brings a barrage of noise as little ones chatter, cry or wail, ask continual questions, fight among one another, throw a fit or tug at your legs.  If you are a mother or dad and you find yourself struggling with the noise level in your home, perhaps you can call a friend to stay with the kids one afternoon as you go out by yourself somewhere.  You need it.  Don’t wait until you explode in anger and do something to your children you’ll regret.  I think excessive noise level in the home is a contributing factor to child abuse.

Playing soothing music in the home will help calm your children, and will help your nerves, too.  Don’t let the TV be their “baby-sitter.” 

If you're a friend of a parent with young children, be sensitive to their needs and offer to babysit for part of a day.  They'll thank you for  it. 

I think too of ‘internal noise”— those thoughts that demand we give attention to this or that, or we revisit a conversation we’ve had with someone and it goes round and round in our mind.  The mental noise can be wearying unless we turn it off.  How do we do that? 

I find peace and quiet and mental relaxation as I pray to my heavenly Father and throw all my cares and worries on Him.  I bless the people in my mental conversation and declare aloud that God is working in their situation.  It brings such blessed peace.

Read about two sisters, Mary and Martha, in Luke 10:38-42, where Martha was scurrying about fixing a meal for Jesus, and complained to Jesus that Mary wasn't helping her. Jesus answered her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her."

And in Mark 6:31-32 we read, "Then the apostles gathered to Jesus and told Him all things both what they had done and what they had taught. And He said to them, 'Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.' For there were so many coming and going, and they did not even heave time to eat. So they departed to a deserted place in the boat by themselves."

The human soul craves peace and quiet.  We were not created to be stressed out and over-worked.  We’d all do ourselves a favor if we turned off the TV several nights a week, and instead, sat outside on our porch or back deck to enjoy the sunset and nature and sip a glass of iced tea. 

Or go to a resort for the weekend. Dave and I enjoy going to Cacapon State Park near Berkley Springs, West Virginia, and just sit in the woods.  Squirrels and chipmunks scamper about and birds do their thing; warm sunlight filters in lacy patterns through the leaves of the trees as gentle breezes make them dance. There’s something about being in nature that is so therapeutic.  It’s relaxing – therefore it’s healing to the body and mind.

Now, isn’t that better than hearing the loud honking of horns, the “thump, thump” of loud rap music, and people arguing and yelling?  You bet it is.

God bless you, dear reader.

Copyright © 2013 Elaine Beachy