I Pity The Puppets

At therapy, I have been using a harness system that dangles you from a large metal frame and they crank a percentage of your body weight off. Every time they crank me up, I think that I know what if feels like to be a puppet! You are kind of just hanging there and waiting to "perform" whatever tasks the therapists tell me to do.

There is quite a helpless feeling as a puppet. You can't get up by yourself, your tied to all of these "ropes", you cannot move about freely, and you can't get down by yourself. Oh sure, while you are "performing" you look pretty good and amazing! But just wait until the ropes are gone - the puppet lies crumpled in a heap. At least I have my chair to land in!

My husband and I have been talking lately in regards to raising our children. How we want our children to be students of the Word of God. We want them to know not only what they believe but why they believe it. We were challenged by some friend's of ours who play devil's advocate with their children. They ask them Bible questions and then have them prove their answer with Scripture only - not opinion. It has really made us think.

I see such a deficit in this - not just among children (mine included), but among our grown-ups, our spiritual leaders, our pastor's and teachers. Many times we just parrot what we have always been told but if someone were to really put our feet to the fire about certain things we hold so fast to, we end up stuttering with some lame answer to get us off the very uncomfortable hook we have managed to get caught on.

Please don't misunderstand me, I am not advocating a reversal of everything we have been taught. Quite the opposite! What I am challenged to do is to really figure out what I believe and why. If I can't give a biblical reason for the why's, then I have completely weakened my belief to others. They will view it as just opinion and no different than the right to their own. Except they will probably just keep their own opinion by not being compelled by any greater authority which should be the Word of God. This is important to others but is is of upmost importance to our children.

I wonder how Pinocchio felt when he changed from a puppet into a human. How freeing! How liberating! How wonderful to not be controlled by other people!

As a Christian, I am not to be controlled by external "ropes" but by the work of the Holy Spirit in my life. That is an internal work and is extremely liberating because I am not jerked about by everyone who desires to "pull my chain."

The Lesson:
Simple. I pity the puppets.