Seal

It was just a quick one liner but still I am thinking about it.  Jon, my son in law, has these funny quirky one liners that just pop out time and time again, and usually they are ones you seldom here.  He was sitting at the island on Thanksgiving in front of the chili con queso appetizer, a tradition handed down from my childhood, and ate his first loaded chip and commented, with sort of in an unintended defeated tone,  that now he has done it, he has broken the seal. And I knew just what he meant, once you start on the queso and chips, it is hard to stop, or at least it is for me, and surely must be for him too.  

But I have carried that one comment about breaking the seal now for days.  There is something about a mindset that recognizes when a seal is in place. It is sort of a boundary, a guarded wall of willful resistance. A seal of promise, a seal of truth, a seal of integrity, a seal of commitment, a seal of trust, a seal of faith, a self structured seal of resistance of food or drug or a bad habit.  All is well as long as the seal is not broken.  Ah, but when it is broken, a flood of desire comes rushing in, and it is hard to reseal that which has been broken. Kind of like putting that Jack in the Box back in his box.  ( I have been hanging out with my baby Molly and that is a toy she totally adores; as long as you will put jack back in the box and tighten his seal, she will continue to turn the knob and have him pop out again and again.)  

And isn't that what we do as well? When we continue to turn the knob of restlessness, discontent, despair, fear, frustration and temptation, it is hard for the seal of constructive consciousness to remain in tact. For we allow the pressures of everyday dilemmas to force our hand and eventually the seal is weakened and finally broken.  Yesterday in Sunday school a lady told a story of standing at her kitchen sink and finally throwing her arms up in the air and saying, God, I have had it, I am not good at running my own life, it is hard, it i painful, it is complicated and I am turning it over to you. She said the results were amazing and her mental freedom was just hours away.  When we try to crack out life our way, we are subject at every juncture to break our seal of faith, our seal of trust and truth, and even our self made seals covering our temptations.  We are truly powerless to have lasting success; only through God and with God's help can we manage a mindset of well sealed thoughts, intentions and deeds.

We are all familiar with the old adage, "sealed with a kiss".  Well, God has done just that with any life that has been yielded unto him.  

His seal of love cannot be broken, or tainted, or damaged or destroyed.  He cannot love us anymore than he already does or any less because His love is perfect, not to be altered. If we make a choice to depend on that seal and not the ones of our own makings, God will strengthen us through our faith, direct us through our challenges, and help us resist the cranked up notion that we can do things better on our own than living without his steady hand of grace and authority. 

There is only one seal that is strong enough to endure the cranked out adversities that we are faced with; whether they be health, mental or physical, loss of loved ones, a financial crisis, relationships, suffering, or a wandering spirit looking for a place of truth to call home.  It is a seal of strength, compassion , forgiveness, sacrifice, authority, grace and power all rolled into the threads of Gods adhesive love through his son Christ. 

2 Corinthians 1:21-23

²¹ Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, ²² set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

We can break the seals of our own making but we cannot ever break the seal of our God who has his eyes over us, his spirit within us and his hand upon us. To God be the Glory.

Dear Lord, I seem to break my meager self proclaimed seals on an ongoing basis and I am so blessed that you do not break yours.  May your promises be seeded in my heart, and my faithfulness reside in the assurance that when I yield my ways unto you, you will interact accordingly with plans that I may not understand but know are a part of your greater good.  May I learn to recognize daily the power of your seal and the love that it reflects.  Amen 

Praise God wherever you are and whatever situation He has allowed you to be in . . . His glory will shine through!