Bird on a Wire
I am often my own Pharoh. Warning after warning, plague after plague, I cannot let myself go. My heart is hardened so I cannot be free. Clinging to the comforts of Egypt and yet moaning of her bondage, my heart remains cold and conflicted. Frozen and stuck. Clinging to power. What is our problem?
Leonard Cohen's song says it very well...
I saw a beggar leaning on his wooden crutch
He said to me, "you must not ask for so much"
And a pretty woman leaning in her darkened door
She cried to me, "hey, why not ask for more?"
It's about our desire...how much we think we deserve...and power...how much we think we have.
We are pulled in both directions and the tension is great, especially for our young people, just starting out and setting the course for their entire life. Being told that they are independant and fully capable to do life on their own...what an illusion...carelessnes. I also see it in my middle aged friends, regretting their life choices and clinging to the power lines of self indulgence, pleasure and control in the second half of life. Still looking for freedom...we think lies in earthly desires fulfilled. And we think very highly of ourselves...we deserve it.
I feel the tension too sometimes. Trying to keep our balance and hold on to all of it...back and forth, swaying between I'm awesome and I'm nothing. It's a tight rope walk. Freedom comes in letting go...of our desires...and allowing new ones to enter our hearts. Getting off our throne and living a life of trust and service to all that is good and right. We'll never be free if we insist on clinging to the illusion of power. And that's what it is...an illusion. It feels so real and attainable. We are coerst by lines of empowerment, but in one puff of smoke, the control can vanish. Which leads us back to faith.
We wear a symbol of faith, but keep sitting there, unmoved and inactive, never actually doing what He says we should. We have a "form of godliness, but deny the power thereof" (2 Timothy 3:5)...one of my favorite verses...a reminder to put my faith into practice. This faith is made for action. It's powerful and effective, if we just take the leap. We can because the way has been made, tried and true, available to all of us. Like Pharoh, we say we will, then we don't. Over and over again...until it's too late. But it's not too late...
"Don't cry anymore...it's completed...it's finished...It's been paid for."
Wow Leonard...you nailed it with that power line.
"Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act." Psalm 37:4-5
24x36 acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas..."Bird on a Wire"
Leonard Cohen's song says it very well...
I saw a beggar leaning on his wooden crutch
He said to me, "you must not ask for so much"
And a pretty woman leaning in her darkened door
She cried to me, "hey, why not ask for more?"
It's about our desire...how much we think we deserve...and power...how much we think we have.
We are pulled in both directions and the tension is great, especially for our young people, just starting out and setting the course for their entire life. Being told that they are independant and fully capable to do life on their own...what an illusion...carelessnes. I also see it in my middle aged friends, regretting their life choices and clinging to the power lines of self indulgence, pleasure and control in the second half of life. Still looking for freedom...we think lies in earthly desires fulfilled. And we think very highly of ourselves...we deserve it.
I feel the tension too sometimes. Trying to keep our balance and hold on to all of it...back and forth, swaying between I'm awesome and I'm nothing. It's a tight rope walk. Freedom comes in letting go...of our desires...and allowing new ones to enter our hearts. Getting off our throne and living a life of trust and service to all that is good and right. We'll never be free if we insist on clinging to the illusion of power. And that's what it is...an illusion. It feels so real and attainable. We are coerst by lines of empowerment, but in one puff of smoke, the control can vanish. Which leads us back to faith.
We wear a symbol of faith, but keep sitting there, unmoved and inactive, never actually doing what He says we should. We have a "form of godliness, but deny the power thereof" (2 Timothy 3:5)...one of my favorite verses...a reminder to put my faith into practice. This faith is made for action. It's powerful and effective, if we just take the leap. We can because the way has been made, tried and true, available to all of us. Like Pharoh, we say we will, then we don't. Over and over again...until it's too late. But it's not too late...
"Don't cry anymore...it's completed...it's finished...It's been paid for."
Wow Leonard...you nailed it with that power line.
"Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act." Psalm 37:4-5
24x36 acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas..."Bird on a Wire"
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