Insulation from Within!

When last did you get some shocking news or had something happen to you that was absolutely dreadful? What was your first reaction after the initial shock? Disbelief, regret, pain and more pain? Did you faint or wish that you were dreaming? Rest assured that I am certainly not trivialising what may have happened or trivialising what the effect may have been on you and those close to you. What we all have to face at various points in our lives, is the fact that there are not-so-good things that happen to us. These trials catch us on ‘the blind-side.’ They literally sweep us off our feet and leave us dazed with no immediate explanations. I share in and understand that these unexpected events can be immensely painful and comforting words alone do not cut it. When...and not ‘if’ they happen, they leave us with so many ‘why’ questions; answers to which we sometimes never get or truly understand, but as life goes on, if we’re open to it, we can discover that some of the answers and/or coping strategies are all around us. Recently, I noticed a sign on an electrical wire that said ‘Danger: High Voltage Line!’ This particular wire was a bit low and I suspected that the fact that it was low had to be part of the reason why the sign was placed where it couldn’t be missed (important to note, as all signs are not placed to be that obvious.) I then reflected a bit on the agreed need to warn everyone in the vicinity of the possible danger just overhead. That’s when it occurred to me: ‘What about the birds in the air?’ Immediately, I looked above at the birds, smiled and said, “God (my source of inspiration) you thought of everything beforehand!” 

 

‘What signs exist that we’re missing?’ I thought again about the birds and smiled some more because the birds existed before the wires, or even electricity! That must mean that insulation or inert protection already exists from the hazards of life. With my limited knowledge of insulation, I know birds can still be electrocuted. Yes, things can still happen to us unexpectedly, but we must make every effort do our part to stay away from what we know to be dangerous situations. In other words, we can be proactive in taking some precautionary measures instead of being reactive. Maybe, we can advise those close to us of impending danger and we don’t always have to do that when the danger is right overhead. There’s a bright light that comes on in our heads to help, IF we slow down to take notice of it. It’s an internal warning system that says ‘Red Flag! Red Flag!’ If we’re still not getting that, it moves to our guts because we do get ‘a gut feeling’ that something is not right. Sometimes other people are speaking to us but we’re not listening, just hearing. If left ‘unaddressed’...BOOM! The explosion or the shocking event occurs! Unavoidable? Let’s be real, there are dangerous situations all around us and like the birds, we may have to stand in the midst of it. We may have to make a stand and trust that God is still in control AND we may have to take a stand for what is right. Our stand may not be popular and I hasten to add, popularity is never what we must use as our ‘electrical charge.’ After all, we’re not the ones in charge. Bad (and good) stuff will happen. There’s no sense in trying to deny it. We can be in control and not be electrocuted by not recklessly spreading our wings when we are supposed to be perched or focused. From that vantage point, it comes down to our choices. As I would have written in a previous article: ‘It’s not by chance, but by choice!’ You have some choices to make now. Are you going to ignore the high tension experiences, or are you going to look higher than the cloudy situations? You already know what choice I made! I did so because I’m discovering daily, that there’s insulation available from within!