Cactus Pricks

Hi,

I am going to begin this blog with a thought from a dream.  This was directed to a particular person, however, it also applies to many who will read this.

In this brief dream, I saw a tall, dark green cactus with its many thorns going all the way up.  My eye was led to a beautiful red flower at the top.  I saw someone walking up to the cactus, determined to see the flower.  As he tried to smell and touch the seemingly irresistible flower, his finger was pricked, with a drop of blood.  He quickly pulled his hand back and tended the prick.  However, he could not resist trying again to get to the flower.  This continued until his hand was bleeding and really sore.  A few times, he actually reached the flower, but after a while, he was getting pricked continually.  He could not seem to resist this flower, even though he was hurt from trying to touch it.

This reminds me of the world.  As children of God, we often see, seemingly harmless, things in the world.  We step in to touch and smell, and it did not seem to affect us much at first.  So, we continue, until we get deeper and deeper, becoming desensitized to the hurt it is pushing us further into.  The devil is so subtle, that we often do not know that we have stepped not just onto the fence, but over to the other side until it is too late.  He dangles what looks good and harmless just like a carrot right in front of us.  And most often, we tend to follow it until we look around and cannot seem to figure out how we got where we are.  We often tend to not even realize we are in trouble until the pain is so bad that we have hit rock bottom.

I am so glad He is a merciful and forgiving God, patient with us.  There is only one way to keep from falling into this trap.  That is to know your Heavenly Father, His character, His voice, His love.  It is through knowing Him intimately that we are able to recognize the fake, the false.

My favorite verses are Proverbs 3:5&6:  "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and He will make your path smooth and straight"  (paraphrased from a few different translations).  It is only when you know someone, have a relationship with them, a close relationship, that you can truly trust them.

Meditate on these verses for a while.  I will continue and add to this thought in my next post.

Blessings,
---joy