Ghosts

I try to sleep but am haunted by ghosts.

They are made of memories.  

Becoming so clear in my mind that when I eventually sleep they continue to occupy me. 

To take up the space where they may orchestrate. 

What it plays on the back of my eyelids.

Sometime ago I had a dream where I was tired from a severe lack of sleep.

As a result, I went through my working day, getting everything wrong.

My initial thought was that surely this prediction would be fulfilled. 

It made sense.

However, after gaining some perspective,

I concluded that my brain was simply warning me.

Warning me to take care, be aware of my stress and fatigue, and its impact.   

A tool to use in my competition with this ghost- failure.

Once I looked at it in a new light it no longer scared me.

In fact, I thanked it for its warning. 

It's warning of a genuine danger. 

For not all dreams, recollections, and ghosts are helpful. 

But this one was. That is why I stopped to acknowledge it. 

After all, it did me a favour.  

An Entreaty

Mark 9:23-25 Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”

Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”

Sometimes I wonder if I'm just going through the motions.

If the way I think and what I say and how I act is just a facade. 

Do I really believe that God sent his son to die and rise again, to save not only me, 

but everyone else too? 

I want to. But It's not easy. I question if I really do believe, or do I just want to believe?

I'm influenced by those around me to keep hold of what I refer to as my faith. 

Is it really my faith, or is it their faith projected onto me so I may perceive it to be mine? 

Are we just encouraging one another to believe in the world's biggest lie? 

Yet how can a lie go undetected? The gospel has spread like wildfire across the centuries. Surely it would have been totally disproved, and its followers disbanded by now if it were of man's invention.
But time and again academics who began as atheists, become not only Christians, but evangelists.
Fulfilling what Gamaliel the Pharisee said, when the gospel first began its spread:

"Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God." (Acts 5:38-39)

Those whom I care about I who care about me...

People whom I trust and value their options...

Most of these people are Christians...

But some have turned away, slowly giving up their faith.

It was no longer precious, but instead turned into something that they resented and rejected.

Dear God, I don't know what kind of person I would be without you living with me.

Directing my heart, soul and mind every day.

I am guided by you for give up the God who is just yet whose love surpasses all understanding.

Please my Heavenly Father, remind me every day where I stand.

Let me remain supported by Christ, the solid rock, and not give in and tread down upon the sinking sand. When you call me home, may I then in Him be found. 

Shared...

'It is not good for man to be alone'
Genesis 2:18

So many things are better when shared.
Shared, experienced and treasured by two. 

When you stand still in awe and wonder there is no one there to hear your exclamation.
When you stand together you share your thoughts, conjectures, and perceptions.

Trees need a Xylem and a Phloem to function.
To be healthy, to grow, and support one another as each day passes.
They are together as one.

Good relationships are like trees.

When two people are devoted to caring for one another.
When two people can share faith, values, goals, beliefs...
slowly becoming of the same heart, soul and mind.

Of course, due to the presentence of sin, this isn't always the case.
We let each other down sometimes, forget the needs of the other and want things done our way.
Yet with God's help and intervention repairing the damage is possible.
If only we are willing and humble enough, to ask for his guidance and his aid.

I pray that my relationship will grow to be like a tree one of these days...