Dorothy

Everyone remembers Dorothy as the little girl who ended up in Oz after a tornado and just wanted to get back to Kansas. In order to get there the Good Fairy tells her she must follow the yellow brick road and go to Oz where the Wizard will help her get home. In her travels she is accompanied by three companions, each with their own desire.

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We are the same way. We want something. The process or yellow brick road seems to be the way to get it and the Wizard seems to be the person willing to give it too us. Nothing wrong with having a process ..... but it's a tool not a savior. Any how, what would Dorothy have done if she had followed the process and talked to the Wizard and still couldn't get back to Kansas?

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So let me tell you about Scout and what she did. We call her the girl scout but after today she has not a merit badge left to her name. Lately I have begun walking my dogs. The weather is fine and Trouser and I need to burn some calories while Scout needs to burn energy. I do not take them together because Scout is not leash trained and runs every which way tangling the leashes and tripping everybody up. So I take them separately. Trouser is always first. Then Scout. Since Scout has a fit of hysteria the entire time we are gone I was hoping she would get used to the routine and know her turn is coming.

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The trick is getting through the door with Trouser and without Scout. Today she managed to push past me and proceeded to run all up and over, down and around. There was no catching her. Scout had not gotten what she wanted and so my little Dorothy had gone rogue. While it caused Trouser and me a bit of consternation we settled down into our regimen. Meanwhile, I was hoping that Scout would tire out and if she did run into the highway well ... at this point I was so ticked I didn't really care except I might have a vet bill.

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On our way home I could see Scout up ahead being friendly with a neighbor. I called out for him to collar her. I then collected her and headed home with her struggling and screaming bloody murder. Honestly the neighbors were looking out the window! It was like having your kid pitch a fit in the grocery store ..... oh so misunderstood! She was about as credible as a captive little thief screaming, "you just don't like me!" But I totally understood where she was coming from and had simply grabbed her by the scruff and bitch growled her all the way home. Then threatened to smack her nose if she opposed me any further. I considered taking away further privileges for the day like not walking her but that would have been about as productive as keeping an antsy little classroom in from recess.

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So we went for our walk and I praised her for whatever obedience she displayed. My attitude towards Scout is not condescending. I treated her much as I would have treated a willful child. Which is, "I am older and wiser and I have been there done that, little girl. I know you're cute but I am trying to keep you out of trouble. As long as you are in my house you will follow the rules and obey me."

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Process or rules are there for a reason. As an artist, one of the first things I learned is that you must know the rules before you can break them. Good rules and laws are established on the principles of love and mercy. And love and mercy are the only principles by which we break those same laws. The speed limit is there to save lives. The ambulance breaks the speed limit for the very same reason.

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And yes, Scout, I am a Dorothy. I have kept all the rules and followed that yellow brick road hoping that God would bless me and give me what I really wanted (it wasn't him). And I have gone rogue when I didn't get what I wanted. I have learned the hard way and my heart has been pierced with many griefs wandering after my desires. But my Good Shepherd came and got me. He healed my broken heart and I will never leave him again.

The Tin Man

I was wandering room to room in an art museum several years ago when I came into an empty space with three large oil paintings. The canvas that drew me in was painted with a large heart. In collage style, there were items inside and outside of the heart. Some bloody gloves, tools, scraps of tin foil. The tin foil had me wondering a bit. Since it was reflective and shiny, I thought about how our hearts and emotions are simply reflections of what we are confronted with. We match anger with anger, hatred with hatred, judgement with judgement .... love with love. Or like Balaam's ass it could be a, "What was that for!?!" response. Later I thought it was more likely a reference to the Tin Man, "And Oz never did give nothin' to the Tin Man that he didn't, didn't already have."

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Jesus was not quite the simple and kind Tin Man. He saw and understood evil. His heart was fully informed but his responses were not reflective. He knew when to confront and rebuke evil even when it was masked by the concern of a friend (Surely not Lord) and he knew when to bind up a bruised reed and a broken sinner.

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We would be doing good to be on the level of the Tin Man. We will never be on the same level as Christ. But we can stick close. We can ask him what heart response we should have in any given situation at any time. Jealousy and anger may be healthy reactions in some situations. But God's jealousy and anger is not meant to repel us. It is more an outrage that we have left him. We do not wilt under this jealousy and anger for "his rod and his staff comforts me". It means that he cares but also that we have a choice. He will allow us to leave but there is a terrible price for turning your back on the source of all goodness. For God will allow you the folly of your own choices and the rule of your new master .... who does not love you.

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And for those times our heart is too broken to eek out any comfort or forgiveness of it's own, God's Spirit can bind, heal and bestow the grace that is needed for the situation. The measure of forgiveness you give will be measured back to you. Pay attention to the condition of your heart. You may reason that no one can see but, "out of the heart the mouth speaks" ... judgments are made and actions taken. Most of the time we are wearing our heart on our sleeve. Even without a word we communicate with facial expressions and body language. "My dear children do not imitate what is evil" but reflect the light. Look at the Son and "be transformed by the renewing of your mind". Jesus can give you clarity and understanding on a situation. Knowing the truth about something directs the appropriate heart response. Which results in proper action and communication.

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Finally, in all things humility. Even the Tin Man is not the Christ. Pride will cut you off from the leading of God for you have ceased standing on the truth and have begun to believe a lie. In order to remain in God's counsel and care we must love and obey him standing firm in our secure position of grace and the forgiveness of God given at the foot of the cross.