The Shadow of Your Wings

I saw a t-shirt a while back that had me LOL. A simple black number with bold white letters stating:

Sadly, the person I would have worn it for would never have “gotten the message.” She would have laughed but never realized it was meant for her, and besides, it was rude. (True, but rude.) So I decided that the $17.95 plus S&H could be better spent elsewhere - like on caller id for my phone so I can choose not to answer when I’m not up for listening. (I know, none of you ever do that. Just give me the Miss Non-congeniality award now and let’s get on with the pageant.)

I had another “friend” once who told me that when she started thumbing through her issues that she didn’t want my advice or even prayer, “just nod like the little bobble head doggie folks use to put in the back window of their cars.” I send her a Christmas card each year. That’s the extent of our relationship now. We seem to be content with that.

Truth is, we all have issues, and need a friend who will just listen. My husband snorts and shakes his head when he overhears some of my phone “conversations,” which consist of little more than, “uh huh,” “hmmm,” “Oh yeah, I get it.” He knows that I will be totally bummed out when I finally hang up. I’ve managed to get a little control over others’ issues with a caller id and having given away the cordless phone. I can honestly say, “I’ve gotta go, gotta go right now!” and am able to get off the line. (And with the amount of tea I drink the caller has no doubt that I’ve really “gotta go!”)

OK, tmi.

I’ve been thinking about that t-shirt again, though. Wondering if I can have it made with the printing in reverse - so that I can stand in front of the mirror and get the message to myself! I’ve grown weary of my own issues! I’ve tried being “spiritual” about it, like King David asking, “Why so downcast, o my soul?” Alas, my soul answereth me not. My mind, however, screams - Well, he does this, and she did that … Perhaps that is the cry of my soul. I’ve even tried installing a mental caller id - checking each ring of thought and “bringing it into captivity to the obedience of Christ.” (2 Cor 10:5) To be honest, that doesn’t always work so well either - like grabbing the phone out of habit before looking at who’s calling. I just get stuck with the conversation until I can manage a polite excuse to hang up. Bobble head me.

When I do offer advice to a friend regarding an issue it is most often to remind her that if she can’t change the situation she can at least change the way she responds to it. Someone recently shot back a tearful, “HOW? How do I respond to his thoughtlessness, her selfishness?” I could only answer quietly, “With grace.” “Oh,” she replied, “that’s fine for them! But I’M the one who has to live with the hurt! How do I respond to THAT?”  The Someone was my Self, and I have no answer.

What do you do with issues that just keep coming, piling up, when you can’t cancel your subscription?

David’s response was to “Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him for the help of HIS countenance … Therefore I will remember You … The LORD will command His lovingkindness … Vindicate me, O God, and plead my cause … deliver me … For You are the God of my strength … Oh, send out Your light and Your truth! Let them lead me; let them bring me to Your holy hill and to Your tabernacle. Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy; and on the harp I will praise You, O God, my God. … Hope in God; for I shall yet praise Him, the help of my countenance and my God.” (Psalms 42,43)

Jesus’ answer would be, “… seventy times seven.”

uh huh … Are you listening, o my soul?!