Building The Lie

 

My husband started a business 21 years ago from scratch. We went without income for two years as he slowly built his clientele list. Because he is old school his business model depended solely on offering a good product for a competitive price. This was not easy but certainly better than two decades later when businesses are required to take a position on social or political issues. Because he has been quite successful without such mandates, he prefers to continue to exclude such things from his work ethic standards.

In recent years, as the call for businesses to be more declaratory about social issues, to rally to causes even if they have nothing to do with the business itself, my stubborn, old school businessman husband has been able to sidestep this new paradigm even as it becomes more and more difficult. 

Recently his company bid on a job for a school district in a neighboring state. He has successfully done other jobs for this client but there are new rules in place. He is now required to 'qualify' in order to bid and to qualify there are boxes that must be ticked off and each box has a numerical rank that helps to make a total sum that must be met.

One box declares that his business has helped a minority or woman owned business to get a loan. The total requirements are similarly overreaching and include his being a small business in which the owner cannot have more than a certain dollar amount in personal assets.

I could post a screen shot of all the requirements, each more absurd than the others, but I think anyone with half a brain can see how ridiculous this is and where it is likely to go. But there is a twist here that is more diabolical than just a business demanding other businesses follow their great virtuous path of goodness. 

I call this dynamic Building of THE LIE. 

You see, my husband has had lengthy conversations and email exchanges with the individuals in charge of the project, declaring that he is not willing to check boxes that are not true. His bid is the best and they have assured him they want him to do the job but they are stuck in their own version of life imitating art. They would be quite happy if he would lie so they could fulfill their declared business model of being socially virtuous and still get the job done well and for less. 

Hubs isn't cooperating.

I've often referred to modernity as being a form of life imitating art using the example of the sci-fi movie The Matrix. It seems to be a reference tool for many others now when seeking to point out that we are following the theme of alternate reality of life being just one big illusion controlled by unseen operators. The red pill/blue pill analogy is now embedded in our societal construct. Humanoids now reside in a make believe world where what they trust to be real is nothing more than digital graphics. 

The problem, however, is not that it is happening but that this is the preferred state of being. I sum this up as humans seeking to replace God with their own interpretation of godliness.

Fiction that is accepted as fact and untruth accepted as truth is not a new concept though. Historically speaking, the rise and fall of great civilizations seem to be traceable to the population rising by advancing on absolutes and then slowly being conditioned to prefer lies over truth which then destroys them from the inside out. 

In the film, the brave mavericks who chose not to believe in the illusion were declared outlaws who dared to question make believe world. In the version of this theme now playing out in real time, these daring souls are vilified and called names, conspiracy theorists and racist or some other slanderous term du jour. To shut them up they are what is now known as being 'canceled'. 

There have been times in history when this determination by some with the power to silence opposition became a reason to go from measures taken to shut down the resistance to eliminate permanently by death. 

Like a broken record, I keep harping on this theme because I can see that we are so very close to transitioning from a living version of a fictional story to the diabolical repetition of the all too real results of holocaust. Any means adopted as justifying the desired end. 

Those who choose to be real and honest, preferring tough truth over soft lies,  and do not go along to get along might die trying but they will reap the eventual rewards of standing on the truth. 

For Him,

Meema

2 Thessalonians 2:10-11

…10and with every wicked deception directed against those who are perishing, because they refused the love of the truth that would have saved them. 11 For this reason God will send them a powerful delusion so that they believe the lie, 12in order that judgment may come upon all who have disbelieved the truth and delighted in wickedness.…

It is Finished

Sometimes I have to shut out the noise and be silent. So many things that could be said, so many things that matter and just as many that don't anymore and therefore don't need to be said.

But I felt that I should say something to acknowledge this holiest of times as I have done in this blog for ten years but what I want to say is mostly summed up with overwhelming gratitude that God would choose to give His only begotten Son up for the ultimate sacrifice for us. How do we fully grasp that?

So, I had to go back and find a couple things already posted and put them together.

Happy Resurrection Day,

He Is Risen

Love, 

Meema

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When I try to imagine being one of those women on that horrific longest day - the ‘Sabbath’ after Christ was crucified - the agony of waiting in the paralyzing silence of defeat, I temporarily set aside knowing the rest of the story - the great good ending. I try to fully experience their grief and dismay, the crushing weight of unanswerable questions - the frustrating unknowable. 

I do this because I need to embrace, firsthand, the fear that they must have felt, the confusion, the despair. I still myself, eyes closed, and put myself there, sitting with them. No one able to speak, hopelessness settled in around them slowly sucking the oxygen out of the space. My heart feels like it’s being compressed by a vise. 

I can’t stay there too long or I’d become dysfunctional. I only need a glimpse of what they must have felt so I can confirm the old saying - it’s always darkest just before dawn - as a solid truth not just a good sounding platitude. 

Because I do know the rest of the story, I can also imagine the shockwave that must have shot through, head to toe, those faithful women who returned to the tomb to finish the job, to pay their respect and demonstrate their love for this man whom they had believed was the Son of God and were not prepared for, nor understood what had to happen.  

Have you ever been there? So immersed in fear and dread of the unknown, convinced you are done for, at the mercy of great evil, then in a flash you are rescued? One minute it’s nothing but darkness, the next minute all is light - exquisite relief.

I have. I’ve been there many times in my now officially long life. While it most certainly is darkest just before dawn, there is another truth - dawn does come - and always right on time. 

When it seems that evil has finally won the upper hand, I go back in time and sit for a few minutes with the women who found the tomb empty. Then I fast forward to the happy ending of Christ risen. The war is won. Until He returns we must continue with the small battles, the minor skirmishes with evil, that test our mettle, that keeps trying to distract us away from faith, when we must sit in the darkest dark and wait for dawn, not just believing, but confident it will come. 

Right on time.

For Him,

Meema

The Power of Prayer and Faith

I venture to submit that those who claim to be surrendered Christians can no longer ignore that the war with dark principalities has gone from smoldering in the shadows to bursting into flames all around us. 

The war on all foundational laws of decency and morality is now being fought in the open. If I trusted worldly media or had a shallow wavering faith I might be worried that evil could possibly win this. 

But my faith is tough and I'm armored up. Some of this claim might be attributable to experience - having lived through many tough times to reach the other side. I can't say for sure how, why, or when it happened but once I passed through the threshold of having faith with no reservations I found I could let go of those fears that kept me from believing and trusting that faith is the goal and not just a means to an end. 

When we arrive at the place where our trust in God's perfect will is the endgame even though it might not be what we think we want, we float free of the worldly ties that bind us. 

But regardless how spiritually mature we are, we are humans and still have desires and so we pray and conclude as Christ did in the Garden, even so... Thy will be done. 

There is another angle by which to look at this though.

God could have made robots who simply do as they are programmed to do. Certainly satan is all in on that and is working overtime to make that a reality. Instead, God gave us free will and the opportunity to choose Him over anything else. What He wants is for us to participate with Him in the process of our becoming. He takes the 999 steps - we just have to take the one big one to Him.

In order to participate, though, we have to be open, willing vessels, allowing that He is the potter as we are merely the clay. When our spiritual senses are fine-tuned to the still small voice, we pay attention and obey even if we aren't sure what the grand plan is. The call to prayer is like a call to battle. He knows the outcome but we don't so our choice to participate is on us. That's when miracles show up, at least what humans define as miracles. We call it 'answered prayer' but I think it would be better named  - 'answered call'.

During the first week of April 2022, a call went out that quickly reached an army of prayer warriors whose earnest petitions filled the Throne with sweet incense for successful surgery on my left eye attempting to slow the process of glaucoma.

The success of the surgery is optimistic and still being monitored but my faith assures me that whatever the outcome, all is as it should be according to God's plan. 

I have two things to conclude this with - one, my heartfelt thanks to all who prayed for the best outcome and, two, a closer look at what can be accomplished when two or more gather in His name. 

God works in mysterious ways and layers that we often cannot understand. What if the health of my eye was not the only object of the exercise? 

[spoiler alert] Evil does not get to win this war in the end. What we don't know is how each battle here in the middle unfolds based on how many respond to the call to be willing warriors in God's army.

Based on the daily headlines, I recommend we keep the incense strong at the Throne by praying without ceasing now. 

For Him,

Meema

Revelation 8:2-4

 

Little Is Much

This time two years ago, as the covid madness was really getting up a head of steam, my dear sister was a week out from leaving it all behind her for much greener pastures. She had fought the good fight for 18 months against breast cancer. 

In her last week she was confined to a hospital bed that hospice had provided. I consider that as a small miracle given so many elders were forced to die alone in a hospital during the worst of the plandemic. Since Jo had been with us in hospice care in our home for over a year she was already in place. Some might say that was a lucky coincidence but, as I have said before, I don't believe in luck or coincidence. not in my life anyway. 

Besides great hospice nurses, she had family taking care of her. In February of 2020, before she was confined to the bed she got to have a day of fun and laughter, and a sit down dinner with her family, three children, two grands and five great grands, some of whom had to fly to get here. Another lucky coincidence - shortly after they returned home flying anywhere became a nightmare for nearly two years. 

When I recall Jo's last days with us and all the small miracles that we didn't notice at the time, even as we were more focused on the stresses of the moment, I have to acknowledge all the little things that God orchestrated months in advance without our acceptance or understanding. 

We are like children who do not know or see what our parent does for us. And, like children, we often resist what our parent does for us and we groan and complain. 

In hindsight I can count dozens of positive small things turned large that were made possible by the horrors of lock down and isolation. For one thing parents got to see what their children were being taught because of zoom classes. 

All things come together for good for those who love the Lord.

Apparently the size of things does not matter to God. A few fishes and loaves of bread can feed thousands when He is in it. I am compelled to also note that sometimes He requires much of us in order to be saved from ourselves. 

For Him,

Meema

Begin with your own, available resources. Even though it is little, trust God to make it much. As the song says, little becomes much when it is placed in the Master’s hand. It’s amazing when you think you have nothing and you wind up feeding thousands. God can use small things; He used the tear of a baby to move the heart of Pharaoh’s daughter. He used a shepherd’s stick to work mighty miracles in Egypt. He used a sling and a stone to conquer a nation. He used the little girl to lead Naaman to Elisha. He used a widow with a little meal to sustain a prophet. He used a little child to teach His disciples the meaning of humility and salvation. He used Balaam’s donkey to preach His truth, and the jawbone of another donkey to slay 1,000 men. He can use a small thing for a great end. Jesus likes to have the weak; that way, when things happen, we know it’s His power. – John MacArthur