The First Thing in my New Notebook

I can’t remember how I learned to read. Maybe it started with something like Hop on Pop?  I just can’t remember. But, I can remember how I learned to read again. It started with the Bible. I knew I needed to start reading, trying to regain what was lost. It was and still is, a big part of my recovery.  So I practiced reading, one chapter every day, one verse at a time, one word at a time. So, I worked on it. It was hard and beautiful at the same time.

Nor can I remember how I learned to write. Likely it started by writing my name?  I just can’t remember. But, I can remember how I learned to write again. By using a verb and a noun I started writing simple sentences. Figuring out a way to write again. What a journey it was and still is.  So I’m relearning to read, and I’m relearning to write.

I can remember the first time they intersected. I was “reading” my bible and a verse really stuck with me. And I realized I needed to write it down, so I found a blank notebook and I “wrote” it down.  Practicing my reading, practicing my writing, and putting it together. YooHoo, isn’t life grand. 

That was 30 months ago. I have progressed. In my mind I am a reader again, not so much when I try to read aloud. It is a bit discouraging, I can’t read a simple book to my grandkids. But I can read in my mind. And I can write with prompts. My computer will fill in the blanks. I’m not sure what I’m talking about, filling in the blanks of my words or filling in the blanks in my brain. I don’t suppose it matters, somehow it works.  

Anyways, here is the first thing I wrote in my notebook.

But with one accord they have broken off the yoke and torn off the bonds.   Jer 5.5

Why this verse? Because I realized it was talking about us. What happened in Israel during the days of Jeremiah was the same thing that is happening here in America right now.  We have broken off the yoke and torn off the bonds. 

Taking the yoke off. That is talking about freedom. Freedom from restraint.  We love and value our freedom. That is why we are called the land of the free. Well, here is what the bible says about the “freedom” that was happening is Israel,

So I now proclaim freedom for you, declares the Lord – “freedom” to fall by sword, plague, and famine.  I will make them abhorrent to all the kingdoms of the Earth.   Jer 34.17

Hmm, maybe we love freedom too much. Freedom, what a rush. Until we realize it is actually a rush into the abyss. Our freedom needs the yoke that God provides. One of my favorite verses, post stroke, is Matt 11.28  “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Because it happened to me. He said “come to me” and he gave me rest. And it was enough. It was more than enough. So, I tend to stop there. But, the next verse says, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart  and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” It seems counterintuitive, but the yoke is how we find rest. And the yoke that God offers is light, way easier than the mess that comes from the “freedom” we think we want. 

The lanes we used to use

This week I pulled up to the light and was getting ready to turn right on to the freeway. Usually after stopping at the light, I would ease forward and then make the right turn.  For some reason, I didn’t do that. I just sat there for a second, and I noticed a car flying in the left turn lane under the freeway may be 100 feet away heading towards the freeway. I realized there was no way he could make that turn, he was driving way too fast, he realized it as well and he started to skid sideways, heading right at my door at maybe 30 mph. Just before he creamed me, he fishtailed the other way and somehow he missed me and headed up to the shoulder of the on ramp. And off he went. Man, what an adrenaline rush. Thankfully it wasn’t a rush into the abyss, but it could have been. I sat there for several seconds to gather my thoughts and then off I went as well.  

There is a common mantra about staying in your lane. Well, that guy ignored that advice, man it could have been bad. A collision caused by not staying in your lane. And often, it doesn’t matter that you are in your lane when others are not.  Well, more and more, we live in a country without lanes. We have broken off the yoke and torn off the bonds.

Our unfettered “freedom” is replacing the boundaries that are needed to secure it. The lanes in our world are going away. Civility has been replaced by hostility, honesty has been replaced with whatever lies fit your agenda. Even something so basic as gender, men and women, has been replaced with our freedom to choose who we think we are.  Abortion, what a divisive problem, but at the bottom of it is the word choice, our choice, everything else pales with our freedom to choose.  

But God makes us male and female, and the commandments in the bible give us boundaries. When we follow them, honesty replaces lies, loving your neighbor replaces hostility towards others, giving replaces greed, faithfulness replaces infidelity, and children are born. The lanes in our life lead to good things. We need these lanes. We need boundaries for our freedoms. 

Choice and freedom are so intertwined. We are free to choose the “lanes” we want. But we can’t choose where they eventually end up. Life or death is where they end up. I pray, as individuals, as a church, as a nation, and as a world, we would choose the lanes that lead to life.