I swore I would never get used to the masks. I was confident they would always bother me. How is it then, that I found myself realizing, that I had colluded, I had complied, I had somehow given myself over to being served food, of all things, by masked men and women?
As I lay sick from the combinations of foods I had eaten on Friday night at a Japanese sushi place, I couldn't think straight, and I knew it would take time for the muddled feeling to leave me, and for clear thoughts to return.
Consumption game
Friday night, a most wonderful friend and I had dinner plans. We agreed on sushi. We got excellent and quick service, but as has been the case for me in the past, I over did the all you can eat part of the dining experience. The variety of food on offer was kind of fun to explore, but I have come to realize food isn't an obstacle course for the stomach, it ought to be nourishment of the body and soul. If you like sushi, you know that the food dissolves in the mouth without much chewing required, and it is really easy to find yourself full way too late in the consumption game. I was sick all of Friday night, threw up until noon on Saturday, and had a persistent headache until just this Sunday morning: that is an extraordinary food hangover.
Prior to suffering for my indulgences, there were other things going on at the restaurant that I do believe contributed to my overall sense of ill-being. While my friend and I sat by the windows of the restaurant, I counted the bright lights of ambulances (five of them in a short span of time) that rushed past on the busy traffic filled street. During the meal, the cough that I thought after three weeks, was dead, started to take over our conversation. When I went to use the rest room, there were notes on the stall doors, asking patrons to put toilet paper, after use, into tiny garbage pails inside the stall (I decided not to use the toilet, because I felt sorry for the staff that had the job of emptying those disgusting little cans) and worse yet, all the staff wore masks. I am giving you a backward order of things; let us start again:
1 The staff wore masks
2 Ambulances were passing fast and frequently
3 I was coughing almost uncontrollably as the evening progressed
4 The stalls had instructions to put USED TOILET PAPER into little garbage cans, rather than flush the toilet, I repeat, USED PAPER
5 All you can eat leads to gluttony
Let us start again again... with my coughing. Surprisingly, my coughing didn't disturb our service. We were brought copious amounts of food, and my friend paid the bill with cash. We sat enjoying each others company for some time after the bill was paid, but my cough got worse with the talking and laughing. This is when a surprising thing happened! One of the masked staff came out with a can of Lysol, or some other kind of disinfectant, and began spraying the spaces between tables, starting with the ones closest to the one we sat at. This was a none to subtle way of getting a pesky cougher out of the restaurant. Quite shamefully understandable... to be fair, I really should have ended my evening earlier, with all that coughing. And to be judgmental, perhaps the staff could have come over and politely suggested, "You seem to be coughing a lot... thanks so much for coming, but for the sake of other patrons, could you please leave?"
I contributed to the lie
So today, with hindsight, I blame not any one player in this game, except of course, myself. I entered an establishment with masked workers. I allowed them to serve me, and had that feeling of something isn't right, but as I lay sick, it came to me... I contributed to the lie that I so hate, that I fight against perpetually, but that I somehow gave into. The lie is insidious, and it is like creeping ivy. At first the ivy is innocent looking, but in no time, it takes over entire buildings, smothering windows and doors in lush looking leaves.
Masked men and women served me food, while ambulances whirled their hectic lights, and I over ate to the point of stomach and head upset. I was wordlessly expelled from a restaurant whilst inhaling the poisonous spray of disinfectant, and the whole thing is comically tragic, to say the least.
And this is how collusion works its insidious way into our lives. The Bible talks about being vigilant and stedfast, two things that slipped from my grasp in my desire to enjoy some normalcy, in a truly tainted and ignoble world. This is not an excuse, but it is an insight into how easily we can become entrapped, with the pleasures of the world luring us into complacency. Here is our warning from God:
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you. To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen (1 Peter 5:8-11)
Knowing the Bible and living it are two different things for the majority of people, me included. But the God of all grace, can make us perfect, stablish us, strengthening and settling us... unto the eternal glory of Christ Jesus.
I made a massive mistake, and I am chastened. To God be the glory when we are given a soul spanking. I am reminded this day, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. While the enemy of our souls wants us to believe he has dominion, the Bible reminds God's faithful and sometimes fallen ones, that He is Almighty, and He rules and reins in this life and the next, no matter which masked man or woman attempts to convince us otherwise.
Lastly, let us turn our gaze to you, dear reader.
🔥How have you colluded with the wicked agenda?
🔥How have you compromised your integrity?
😷Where has the insidiousness of sin crept into your life?
🥸What are you willing to give up to ensure that you become more stedfast and faithful?
✝️What is God teaching you this day, as He chastens you?
Know that God corrects His children, and if He is correcting you today, He loves you. Isn't that a wonderful bit of information to live off of?
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