I am genuinely perplexed, dear reader. I have a sincere desire to understand, and need some responses to my ever so sweetly crafted inquiries ...
Bumbling Bees
It is funny, me attempting to mimic the pretenders. They are coy in their attempts to have others gather around them. I see it on twitter ... someone puts a few sugar sweet word droplets on their finger tips, and they attract the bumbling bees that like that flavour of phoney. Today I read a tweet that nailed down the nonsense in a succinct way, and I was grateful for the unabashed honesty.
I am frustrated with all the fussing and finagling I see adults engaging in. I am going to call it "White Knight Syndrome", and I am pretty sure I did not coin this phrase, thus the exclamation marks.
Wet clothes
I am going to go back in time to retrieve some memories, and hopefully do a tie in as I sort what I am feeling and try to come to a reasonable resolution.
It was a Tuesday and the movie theatre in my neighbourhood had a weekly half price deal. I remember arriving and seeing a lineup. The entrance to the still locked theatre was outside and it was raining. There was an overhang so if you were close to the door, you didn't get wet, but for those lined-up further back without umbrellas, the rain became part of their hair and clothes. The person I was with wanted to join the line, and not make it so obvious that we were unwilling to do what everyone else was doing. If you read my writing regularly you will already know, there was no way I was going to line-up. Not because I don't like the rain, although sitting in wet clothes in the theatre for two hours did not appeal, but because it didn't make any sense!
A grifters game
I recall thinking, not worth it. I will not do a queue no matter what the event, especially when a sign says "Line Starts Here". In my youth, I resented being treated like cattle. In my middle age, I have read far too many marketing books to fall for that "limited offer" nonsense, to stand where some sign tells me to. Manipulating people for money is a grifters game, and I just don't want to be played.
And the grifters abound, don't they, dear reader?
One of the things I have always found exceptionally rude, is VIP treatment. I have seen others being treated differentially for whatever reason, and I have had my fair share of privileged provision too. My point is that it is a way of saying you are better in comparison to others. Sometimes you are a winner, and sometimes you are a LOSER, all decided by the one guarding the door and perhaps, the money you are willing to spend to get away from those that are beneath your grade of fantastical. Everyone gets a turn at being noticed and rewarded, or ignored and dismissed. It is a spin the lucky wheel of chance way of relating, and this shows a blatant disregard for the dignity human beings deserve to be treated with consistently.
"Real stars"
When I reflect back on the person that I went to the movies with, I see him in his weakness, his desire to fit in and conform. He did not appreciate my mocking of a system that is designed to blend the audience, so that the "real stars" get their due. I also recognize that the opinion of perfect strangers meant more to him than mine, and he was willing to pay the price of my respect for him, in order to blend in with a faceless crowd.
Grooming of wannabes
It is idol worship and a grooming of the wannabes. Movies are designed to have watchers fantasize about the life they wish they had. After basking in someone else's big screen sun, and pretending it was them way up high and bigger than life, they return to being ordered to line up, wait your turn, and possibly miss your chance if you don't comply with the demands of those deemed worthy. The demeaning of the masses has been entrenched into our psyches for a very long time. Is it really surprising we are in the exact same boat that has floated us down river for centuries?
Many lined up to get shot. Metaphorically speaking they wanted the comfort of the theatre. They waited in line to pay for over priced heart clogging fake medicine saturated with toxins, and an extra large dose of poison pop top-ups to the tune of one or two boosters. Next they planted themselves in a living-room like recliner, and waited for someone else to start the reel. They wait for someone else to start the reel of their life ...
Submission leads to asking for permission. Those that follow the "Line Starts Here" signs and obey, put themselves in a precarious position of being bossed and tossed to and fro.
Picking up the threads of my theory of the "White Knight Syndrome", we have humans waiting for other humans to rescue them from the dire straights and constraints we find ourselves in. There are polls, surveys, phone calls, emails : human ways of interacting with the powers that be, as ploys and pleas to be set free.
I shake my head! The devil ain't your daddy, is what I want to shout out! He isn't going to grant you permission to live your comfortable life again! There is no "White Knight" heading your way that will whisk you from your current nightmare. No human saviour is in sight ...
I'm switching gears now, you ready?
I love Jesus so much. Let us go into the garden of Gethsemane to hear and see Him together:
And he came out, and went, as he was won't, to the mount of Olives; and his disciples also followed him. And when he was at the place, he said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation. And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down, and prayed, Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will but thine, be done (Luke 22:39-42)
Jesus regularly went to the mount of Olives
Jesus directed His disciples to pray that ye enter not into temptation
Jesus distanced Himself but was still visible
Jesus knelt down to pray
Jesus was heard
Jesus asked to be relieved of what He was about to experience
Jesus submitted to His Father's will
Dear reader, this is what we are seeing with the thousands upon thousands of protesters that kneel in submission to the true Powers that be.
Do they want to be cold, sometimes hungry, sometimes despairing, sometimes miserably lonely, and perpetually threatened with persecution? Do you?
Try kneeling for ten minutes. If you haven't done this before you will notice how unpleasant it is. Now compare this to the living-room recliner, the plush airline seats and pods, and let us define clearly what is noble and good, and what is despicable and sadly selfishly indulgent.
God condescended to live in and amongst us lowly humans to model what obedience to the Father looks and sounds like. He didn't have to, and neither do the praying people all over the world. They are not looking for a politician, a celebrity, a statesman or local mayor to rescue them, they are asking God Almighty this, on your behalf and mine:
Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will but thine, be done
Dear, dear reader, how can this be? How can love be so lovely?
Loving like Jesus is sacrificial
Waiting on the Lord is different from waiting in line
I am not often given over to asking with the word please, but today I do.
Please consider going down on your knees and pleading with the Father to take this cup from us and then ... if you dare, tell Him what the Saviour of the world modelled for you and I ... nevertheless not my will but thine, be done
No comments:
Post a Comment