Hiding From Monsters

There was another funeral a few days ago. The mother was on television, along with her husband, preachers and lawyers. She was weeping because of the unexpected loss of her son. I didn't watch the funeral. I couldn't watch another mother crying over the loss of her child. My heart aches and I did not feel courageous to look her pain in the face. Instead, I distracted myself with minutiae. The word minutiae (pronounced muh-NOO-shee) means unimportant, trivial stuff. I reminded myself of children when they're afraid of the dark, imagining a monster in the closet or under the bed. They cover their heads hoping not to see the monster they imagine is in their room.

But the monster I was attempting to hide from is real. Is anyone else more aware of the evil that seems to dictate our dealings with each other? With the climate of the world? With the disregard in our treatment of children or even strangers on the expressway? When I attempted to reason with God and ask, "what's going on?", I remembered: 

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.  Ephesians 6:12

For those of us who grew up in church and have heard scriptures like this one hundreds of times, they can sound like white noise after a while. Until you put them in context -- the context of what is happening in and around us. 

The scripture points out something: "we wrestle". We don't stick our heads in the sand or under the proverbial covers. Even though the monsters seem big and deeply entrenched in every part of our world, we wrestle. We take what God has placed in our hands and we wrestle. We choose to walk in light and peace no matter how dark and tumultuous circumstances appear. Because the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly, so we don't wrestle as others do. We recognize the monsters we see are expressed as strongholds in the minds and hearts of humanity.

So first, let's stop hiding from the monsters in our own minds. Now more than ever, we need to examine the motivations behind what we're doing. We could be contributing to the world’s darkness and chaos without even realizing it. What are you afraid of? What must you wrestle with to put away your fear of monsters today? Look it in the face and name it.

Well, there's the bell. Gotta get in the ring now. Today I wrestle with what I've been avoiding.

You are loved.