Day 171 - The Writing on the Wall
📖Daily Reading
Jeremiah 32-38
🎥 Video
Join me on my morning walk as we rise and shine together by walking through the Bible daily and learn a practical applicable coaching nugget from the ultimate life coach - our creator (whatever that means to you). No judgement zone here, all are welcome, we are all on a spiritual journey because we are after all spiritual beings having a human experience.
📝 Reflection
Jeremiah 32: 14-15
“ This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel says: ‘Take both this sealed deed and the unsealed copy , and put them into a pottery jar to preserve them for a long time.’ For this is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel says. ‘Someday people will again own property here in this land and will bury and sell houses and vineyards and fields.’”
Reading through Jeremiah chapters 32 - 38 there is a lot to unpack, with chapters that have titles like ‘Jeremiah’s land purchase’, ‘Freedom for slaves’, ‘Faithful Recabites’ ‘Jeremiah in a cistern’. There is a lot of drama and adventure going on as Jeremiah is prophesying the downfall of Jerusalem at the hands of the Babylonians. Yesterday we did a high level overview of what it feels like to go through a big transition at an identity level- you will feel like a stranger in a strange land for a long time. Before that happens though there is a time when a desire comes into your awareness, a calling, some might say a ‘prophecy’. The writing is on the wall, you see it and become aware of it. Before you embark on a journey to the new land there is usually a period of immense confusion and internal conflict.
So the writing is on the proverbial wall. Meaning you wake up to the reality of continuing down the path with a particular behavior, habit, relationship, work, house, community etc… and it doesn’t seem like a good idea. Or maybe there isn’t anything ‘wrong’ with where you are now and where this is headed if you don’t make a change, but you have clearly gotten a message that you need to go in a different direction. What do you do?? Most of us have a lot of mixed emotions.
We have periods of clarity, excitement and commitment where we stake a claim and even maybe write it down in the form a contract with ourselves. This is represented in this story about Jeremiah purchasing a piece of land even when it seems pointless and putting the contract in a safe place. We have seen the writing on the wall and we are prepared and committed to doing something about it. Then… fear might start whispering in your ear and/or the reality of your decision and all that it means starts to become ‘too’ real and you freak out a bit. You try to get yourself to settle down, you start questioning things; ‘is it really that bad, should I really do this?’
I see this internal drama playing out in Jeremiah’s ‘adventures’. He purchases the piece of land, he plans for and trust the future prophesy and acts on it even though it doesn’t make sense. He continues to prophesy not only the coming invasion and conquering by Babylon but also of the hope, and the coming peace and restoration and even freedom for the slaves. In the story of the freeing the slaves we are told they get freed but then get re-enslaved. This is interesting, because we often do this to ourselves. We set out on our journey and make some changes and we feel great we even start to feel free. Then the questioning voices come in and convince us that this ‘freedom’ means that we can do what we want now and what we were doing before won’t be a problem now. We fall for our own desires to try to have our cake and eat it too and… we re-enslave ourselves. Rinse and repeat…
We get another nugget of wisdom in the seemingly random insertion of a story about ‘the faithful Recabites’. The Recabites are a community that took an oath to not drink wine or build homes because their ancestor Jehonadab gave them these commands to live by, and they stayed faithful to this. The Lord sends Jeremiah to this community and asks them to drink wine. They refused and stayed faithful. I think this is an example that we all have aspects to ourselves that we have made agreements with certain ways of living that are good for us and that we have stayed faithful to. Even when we have other ‘bad’ or not helpful ways we have fallen into, most of us are not all bad and we need to remind ourselves of this. We have the ability and evidence within ourselves to know that we are faithful and doe things consistently that are beneficial for ourselves and our community. We are both/and, most of us try to make things either/or. We are complex beings and we can do complex things and can go through complex transformations, but not always as ‘cleanly’ and easily as we would like.
Next, Jeremiah is instructed to write all of the messages down on a scroll. The scroll is taken to King Jehoiakim and he proceeds to read it and burn it as is done reading each part. Jeremiah is then instructed to rewrite the scroll. ‘Nice try king’, says God. I think I have had this same type of interaction with myself and God. Before I really got serious and committed to doing the hard work of change, I wrote many letters and declarations. I actually wrote letters during my determined periods (usually in the morning) to myself to encourage her to stick with it. Before I finally did, there were times when the ‘other’ not determined self (usually in the evening)who was not on the same page or ‘feeling’ like it. Would metaphorically burn those letters. My morning self stuck with it until my ‘other’ evening self gave up just to ‘shut’ her up! 🤦♀️🤷♀️📝
Jeremiah won’t shut up either, just like our desires don’t either. So in the proceeding stage of the adventure he gets thrown in prison. This doesn’t shut up so they throw him in a cistern that has a thick layer of mud at the bottom. We might do this to ourselves, we might try to drown out our inner voice and desires, by reengaging with some things that make us feel like we are stuck in mud, just to quiet that voice. Jeremiah luckily gets rescued by some concerned members of the kings gaurd. But he is still kept in prison. Zedekiah sends for Jeremiah and asks for the ‘truth’. In Chapter 38 vs. 14-19, Jeremiah says: “if I tell you the truth you will kill me, and if I give you advice you wont’ listen to me anyway.” Sounds like an internal conversation I have had before. They go on to chat and Zedekiah admits “But I am afraid to surrender… who knows what they will do to me!”
This is where we will end until tomorrow where we will continue adventuring through the rest of Jeremiah. In summary, it is often part of the process to feel internally conflicted, confused, unsure, pushing and pulling, vacillating, looking for evidence before we have the conviction, decision and commitment we need to forge ahead into the unknown. Some will talk themselves right out of it and stay the same or continue on the path to destruction despite seeing the writing on the wall. That is the reality, we have choice and free will. Our desires, callings, still small voices whispering ‘what if’ that is calling you to something better even if you are in a ‘good enough’ place can be ignored, put in prison etc, or called crazy. You don’t have to change, no one will ‘make’ you. It is up to you how you respond to the writing on the wall.
✍🏼Daily Journal Prompt
What is your determined/morning self telling your other less determined half to do? What are you divided about?
📖Tomorrows Reading
Jeremiah 39-44
Coaching Opportunity
Let's make 2023 the year of YOU by laying a solid foundational mind set! The world needs what only you have to offer! Give yourself the best gift ever, the best version of you is ready to rise & shine!
Book your free📞Wake Up Call today to learn if this is what you have been waiting for!
If you have stuck with me this far, then you are not reading this by accident, I believe God has a plan for you and is calling you forward!😉🤩
CONNECT WITH ME
Subscribe to Rise & Shine✨Together Daily Encouragement
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/felecia.b.holmes (personal)
Rise & Shine Together Private Community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1093183278239989
You Tube: Rise & Shine Playlist
|