Divided We Fall
Distance makes distance. I know this sounds like silliness, but I've been thinking. When you separate, the distance gets between you. I never understood until now that the easiest way to defeat a stronghold is to create a hole.
I don't like watching this stronghold lose it's bricks, one by one. The safety is gone. And every hole we make gives another route for the enemy to break us apart.
I have been thinking about the parable about the seeds being thrown onto the different soil. I always thought it was literally talking about the gospel falling on deaf ears, I only recently was driving home after having a conversation with my brother and realized that it was about you personally, as well. Not just words, but actions. You have such good intentions in your life with the things you do, as a person, a sibling, a child, a spouse, a parent; and sometimes all of that intention falls on the wrong soil.
You think you're building a stronghold and you're actually poking holes in the foundation you were already given. And it all started by creating distance. A little bit of distance and you start to feel comfortable with the silence. You lose yourself, you lose others.
You're busy sewing your seeds, throwing them on soil thinking all that hard work will come back to you in the end as a prosperous harvest. Some seeds do grow, but it isn't the harvest you should of had. You may have money, you may have things but now you also have all that distance.
All this emptiness you've created as a buffer has now left you with a deep hole and the enemy has snuck in while you weren't paying attention. He's stolen the very idea of family right out from under you.
And, I, as a child foolishly believed that it was everyone else's responsibility to have a relationship with me. Never understanding that, by not pursuing a relationship with others I was robbing myself and them of that system of support, that beautiful stronghold we had all taken for granted. We slowly let the vines grow, the rains wash away the ground beneath us.
And now we make life decisions that we shouldn't ever have to make. We shouldn't ever find ourselves wondering who our ally is. We shouldn't ever have to wonder who loves us. We shouldn't ever have to stay wide awake watching the gate with our guns in hand while we try to watch our own backs.
What do I owe my brother? My sister? An eternal question. I owe them the same thing I would want from them, unwavering loyalty, love without a shadow of a doubt, faith that God will show them the way, Hope that their mistakes aren't the entirety of who they are, and a shoulder to both carry them and let them cry on.
United we stand, divided we fall.
I don't like watching this stronghold lose it's bricks, one by one. The safety is gone. And every hole we make gives another route for the enemy to break us apart.
I have been thinking about the parable about the seeds being thrown onto the different soil. I always thought it was literally talking about the gospel falling on deaf ears, I only recently was driving home after having a conversation with my brother and realized that it was about you personally, as well. Not just words, but actions. You have such good intentions in your life with the things you do, as a person, a sibling, a child, a spouse, a parent; and sometimes all of that intention falls on the wrong soil.
You think you're building a stronghold and you're actually poking holes in the foundation you were already given. And it all started by creating distance. A little bit of distance and you start to feel comfortable with the silence. You lose yourself, you lose others.
You're busy sewing your seeds, throwing them on soil thinking all that hard work will come back to you in the end as a prosperous harvest. Some seeds do grow, but it isn't the harvest you should of had. You may have money, you may have things but now you also have all that distance.
All this emptiness you've created as a buffer has now left you with a deep hole and the enemy has snuck in while you weren't paying attention. He's stolen the very idea of family right out from under you.
And, I, as a child foolishly believed that it was everyone else's responsibility to have a relationship with me. Never understanding that, by not pursuing a relationship with others I was robbing myself and them of that system of support, that beautiful stronghold we had all taken for granted. We slowly let the vines grow, the rains wash away the ground beneath us.
And now we make life decisions that we shouldn't ever have to make. We shouldn't ever find ourselves wondering who our ally is. We shouldn't ever have to wonder who loves us. We shouldn't ever have to stay wide awake watching the gate with our guns in hand while we try to watch our own backs.
What do I owe my brother? My sister? An eternal question. I owe them the same thing I would want from them, unwavering loyalty, love without a shadow of a doubt, faith that God will show them the way, Hope that their mistakes aren't the entirety of who they are, and a shoulder to both carry them and let them cry on.
United we stand, divided we fall.
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