Demonic Delousing

People like stories. Stories speak to the mind and give indications of what is going on in the heart. Tongues are like gun triggers: click, and word bullets fly out.

I consider my recent words and wonder about the wayward shots I have fired that may be shrapnel in someones leg, causing a limp; a bullet may have lounged in a persons arm, disabling them from moving heavy objects from their path, or perhaps, the heart was struck, and they have internal bleeding and no way to stem the flow. My God, help me, and the wounded, if this be the case.  

I am fortunate to have my mother living with me, so that I can hear her stories and piece together the why's and wherefores of some of her perspectives, thoughts, and behavioural processes. Understanding self often begins with understanding our family of origin, and what once puzzled us, starts to make stark sense. Ahhhh, I get it now, is the sentiment. 

This morning it feels as though I am demon delousing. Historically, each of my ancestors had a tiny troop of spirits that had attached themselves to each individual being; to name a spirit is to name the ugliness we display. Here I go, foraying into the attitudes, the maladjustments, the very human and not so godly emotions that showed up in my influential family - meaning we all have influence, dear reader, whether you believe this of yourself or not; even your silence speaks volumes and sometimes screams, what you refuse to state out-loud. Below, find a list, my list, of what I have seen and generationally experienced; perhaps before I go into the muck and yuck, you can grab a piece of paper, a pen, and write with me, observing what demons you inherited from your great great grands, and immediate family members too. NOTE: We will gravitate toward people that have traits our family members display, until such a time, as we recognize how unhealthy they may be, and how we would prefer to live a peace filled existence, emulating Jesus rather than sicko relatives - this last sentence gave me a bit of glee, I admit, because a slightly twisted caustic sense of humour is an inherited trait, and one I still enjoy! 

Here, is my list:

Resentment, anger, rage, pettiness, revenge, manipulation, lying, controlling, pride, condescension, better than, comparison, condemnation, insulting, rudeness, excuse making, being abrupt, impatience, retaliation, silent treatment, vicious barrage, violence, threat of violence, withholding affection, too much affection, spoiling, negating, mixed messages, defensiveness, over-protectiveness, ignoring, silencing, minimizing, imposition, drama, theatrics, competitiveness, showmanship, one upping, ignoring, exaggeration, arrogance, self-aggrandizement, self-containing (emotional withholding), emotional immaturity, pettiness (oh, did I say this one already? ... ), demanding, unreasonable expectations, commanding, denying, aggressive, dismissive, and lastly, rightness, not to be confused in any way shape or form, with righteousness.  

Man alive, I think I missed some, dear reader. Is it any wonder that when we take a deep scuba dive into our own psyche, that we come up desperate for crisp and clean air to suck into our dirtied lungs? I told you we would go into the muck and yuck, and while you read my list, did you form one of your own?

It is the demons that attach themselves, claw clinging on to you and me, passed down from generation to generation, that need to be seen and plucked from our individual beings. We need to be deloused, but how do we do this, dear one? How do we know they are there, and get rid of the nasty soul suckers? 

◾️ You can start with hearing stories told and retold, those tales that rattle around in your brain that you heard over and over again that you can't seem to shake, and putting a spotlight on the message the story teller was/is trying to convey

◾️ You can start with your own emotions and reactions when heat rises in your relationships and uncomfortableness begins to set in

◾️ You can continue as you do one or both of the above suggested exercises, listing how you feel in the retelling of the stories, and seeing if your responses and reactions are joyful, peaceful, pleasant, or if you feel downright aggressively repulsed by elements in the story that just don't seem right, kind, beneficial, worthy of being repeated as though they are valuable and deserve air time 

See if you are like your relatives; and dare I say, you are, in some or many ways, and perhaps, just like me, you could use a good cleanse from all that soils your soul. Listen closely to the story teller, and what is valuable to them in the telling, so that you have a better and workable understanding of what they experienced, and how it shaped and formed their perspective and personality. Behaviour and attitudes come from what we believe to be true and from what we appreciate most, even if what we appreciate just so happens to be, the yucky responses to what life throws our way. 

Humans are an interesting lot of selfish sinners. I can say this because I am one, and know it, when I turn my gaze to The One, that perfectly models for us, what holiness can and does, look like. My list, she is short, but God knows what he could add there: out of grace filled mercy, he lets me off with a warning, to see my own obvious sins, and vow with his strength, to commit them no more. I am his daughter, and must behave accordingly, honouring my Father in heaven, and my Saviour here, while I walk the earth.  

Romans 9:21-26

Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: and that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory. Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also the Gentiles: as he saith also in Osee, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved. 

And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God.

Dear reader, let not your family of origin deter you from living as an adopted son or daughter of the living God. He can reshape and mould you into the image of his Son, and that is the gift of having been given life: to be retooled and purposed, to glorify the Potter.