Better Vision

In the Wizard of Oz when Dorothy goes to find Oz she doesn't know the way but the munchkins tell her to follow the yellow brick road. The story may have been a lot different if Dorothy had a GPS and just put in Oz and was told, 'You are on the fastest route. You should reach your destination by 3:00pm Friday.' The only problem is if she had went the fastest way possible she very likely would have missed meeting the scarecrow, the tin man and the cowardly lion. Contrary to what the GPS and even what some people may try to say the fastest way isn't always the safest, best or even fastest way. In 1 Corinthians 9:24-25 Paul writes: Do you not know that those who run a race all run but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown but we for an imperishable crown. During this time Corinth was the site of the Isthmian games. Athletes had to endure ten months of mandatory training and was barred from competing if they didn't complete the training. The winner of the games received a pine wreath crown. Sometimes it seems people get so focused on how fast they run the race they forget to properly train, they even lose focus on the prize. It becomes all about if they are ahead of so and so or are they close to being like or next to someone else in the race. That's not what the race is about. Paul says run it in such a way that you may obtain it, don't leave a path of destruction of people you have pushed out of the way to say you finished and don't neglect to properly train for the race. Don't assume you will automatically persevere to the end cause you started out great. You have to do your part in training and being as prepared as possible to run and endure the race but sometimes in the race you have to help others and sometimes you will need help. It's not a race to see who finishes first but to endure until the end so you can say you fought the good fight, you finished the race and kept the faith. Because sometimes on the scenic or back roads is where we meet the people that will help us run the race and help show us how to better our training or remind us of something we may have long forgotten or was never told about ourselves. Since Dorothy didn't have GPS she fortunately met the scarecrow, the tin man, and cowardly lion along the way and eventually they made it to the merry old land of Oz. In the book everyone including Toto has to have a pair of glasses with green lenses put on before they are permitted to enter the Emerald City. The gatekeeper of the city tells them it is because the brightness and glory of the city would blind them. In fact, everyone in the city has to wear them and these glasses are locked on and only the gatekeeper has the key to unlock them. These glasses are like the chains of the fears and lies of life. Sometimes in life we think we have to act a certain way or wear a particular brand or item of clothing to be accepted by people - to be allowed in the city. Some people are carrying around fears of rejection, perfection, or the lie that they don't matter. Whatever the fear or lie, because there are several, they each are like those green colored glasses. If  one isn't careful they get locked on and we can't take them off because we don't have the key. The enemy will say you have to, or even deserve to, wear and carry these chains - ironically he often used more fears and lies to make sure we keep focused on and continue to carry them longer than we ever should or was meant to. The people had to wear the green glasses from the time Oz ordered the city built. They didn't even know they was in bondage to these glasses and truly believed they would go blind if they took the glasses off. Our fears and lies are like that. Some we have carried so long we don't even realize the hold hey have on us, it has become our normal. Later in the book Dorothy and the others discover that Oz is nothing more than a man from Omaha that has been using tricks to deceive people. When Dorothy asks him if everything really is green he replies no more green than any other place. The enemy will use fears, lies, things and/or people to help (often they don't even know it) to deceive you and have you believing that here is no key or way to live without these chains. But God has the key and you most definitely don't deserve any fear or other lie. You deserve to see yourself for who you and how you are. Fearfully and wonderfully made. Loved. Free. Now hopefully you have found that key and had he locks and chains broken. Sometimes you got to get new glasses. There are times we break free from fears but still hang on to just a little bit of that fear that we think may be true or we unintentionally get a hold of just a little bit of a fear or lie again. Those just in case moments, I still need to protect myself moments or I don't quite completely trust you God with this moment. Old ways of thinking leave no room for truth to even be planted. And if you get it planted lies, fears or a storm  can overpower that seed of truth and prevent it from growing. Wearing an old prescription of glasses for to long can put a strain on your eyes and you just can't see like you should. That's the way old ways of thinking can be - it can even keep you stuck in your comfort zone. If I hang on with everything I have in me to the old glasses or old thinking I'll keep building the walls back up. I'll be wearing glasses with green lenses and are locked on. Now some glasses have transition lenses and will change shade in different lighting. This kind of transition I don't have to do anything but the glasses will change due to the light of the sun. In life you have transitions or growing. Some may be easy and some may feel like they are going to end you. In all of them but especially those that are proving to be a difficult hill in the race hold on to God and His truth and promises. In Genesis 50:20 Joseph tells his brothers you meant evil against me but God meant it for good. Some events in people's life will seem like it has or will destroy you that you have been left and forgotten in the pit but God hasn't left or forgotten, He's taking you to the palace. With any pair of glasses  I have I can't be careless with them. I have to clean them and there is always that one little spot that just doesn't want to leave or looks so huge but is nothing when I take my glasses off to clean it away. Such is that fear (or two or three), that lie (maybe it's on repeat of you should just give up) or that trial that just seems like it will never leave. It keeps tripping you up. Never stop fighting. Cause if I never clean my glasses the spot definitely won't go away. Sometimes I am wearing a shirt I can't use to clean my glasses or no cloth to use and I have to ask for help. We aren't made to face the battles alone but with God and with the people He places in our lives. With each attack of those lies fight back with the truth of who you are to and with God, how far you have made it not  how you messed up or how far you still have to go. At night I keep my glasses placed on a shelf next to me so I can blindly reach and get them in the mornings or during he night if I need them. In life I need to make sure to take care of my thoughts, weeding out the lies and planting truth, surrounding myself with people that help me grow and are a positive influence. I got to make sure I am not holding on for dear life to the fears and lies or pushing people or God away. And always even when it seems pointless (just another lie) always hold on to God . Because when I take my glasses off I still feel like I have them on. That's kind of like the presence of God it may seem like He isn't near or listening when the storms and trials knock our glasses off or knock us down but if you can just hang on to that hope and listen He really truly is there. If you can quiet the  chaos and lies and remember just one truth like God will never leave nor forsake you then soon you can start to get back up. And will have a moment of I really am okay, God has me and will see me through this. When I can't see or even when I think I am seeing perfectly or when fears, lies or trials are closing in God will be there to lead, guide, and direct my steps if I let Him. Because the green colored glasses have been removed and like the song I'm Still Here by Mandisa says:  Hope is rising, waking up my soul all my broken, turning beautiful. Cause I feel my heart  beating and my lungs  breathing. Guess my God's not done with me yet cause I'm still here all my yesterdays are gone and the best is yet to come.