The Eye of the Needle!
Joy to the World, the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing.
It was a crystal clear night last night…not a cloud in the sky. And there was this one star that just sort of stood out and hung there…
Just like the child; everything so different and so much the same. Parts of Bethlehem are as if frozen in time…the very stones untouched in the same exact spot. The world, in essence, was exactly the same. The elite few were hungry for power and control over the many. The many were just trying to survive, look after their families and make a better world for their children. Principled leaders were few…corrupt bureaucrats were many!
There were floods and famine. There was great pain and suffering…and there was the need for something no ordinary man could give.
And just as then, only a few wise men looking up while the rest of us were looking down…enslaved by our own ignorance, distraction and attachments. It really is amazing when you stop to realize that we are the very same people now as we were then. We love and hate the same, eat and starve the same, hope and despair, learn and forget…all the same. In fact, with all the world history between then and now, many would argue that we haven’t learned a blessed thing about living…but we’ve got the dying part down pretty good! His timing was perfect! And thank God, only a few wise men knew…until the child would become a man…who would teach of the Holy Spirit, and save us from our selves.
I must have watched the movie It’s a Wonderful Life a thousand times! Last night I noticed a sign on the wall in George Bailey’s office that I’d never noticed before! It read;
All you can take with you is that which you’ve given away.
This is exactly how the Holy Spirit works in our lives…soft, quiet, stealth and subtle. And when you are ready to receive…voila!
How many of us would have given Jesus the time of day? How many of us are willing, knowing what we know today, to stop and listen? But we’ll jump out of our skin and literally run ourselves over for that new pair of Air Jordan’s…after two thousand and eleven years of knowing better! WHY? Because the very same forces of Good and Evil are at war within our hearts today as they were then. And we are every bit as chained to attachment now as we were then…perhaps even more so!
The Holy Spirit moved me twice this week. Once on the wall in George Bailey’s office, and once on a wall in Ann Barnhardt’s Blog! The miracle of today is so crystal clear to me now, and so very simple…as simple in fact, as the eye of a needle.
If you are unfamiliar with Ann Barnhardt, I would encourage you to hear what she has to say. She has the energy, I would say, of a John the Baptist meets Joan of Arc! And she has more courage and conviction than any hundred people I’ve ever known…combined!
She came to my attention after she very publicly closed her brokerage firm in the wake of the Jon Corzine/MF Global scandal, in a very Galt-like protest of the political corruption and crony capitalism that is destroying our country. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/entire-system-has-been-utterly-destroyed-mf-global-collapse-presenting-first-mf-global-casualty
The second teaching of the Holy Spirit came in the midst of a radio interview she gave to Peter Schiff. It was the actual manifestation of Christ’s teachings of the Beatitudes, and specifically Peter’s representation of the First:
And seeing the multitudes, He went up into a mountain, and when He was set down, His disciples came unto Him. And opening His mouth, He taught them, saying: Blessed are the poor in spirit; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. – Matthew 5: 1-3
(You can read the entire essence of it in her December 22nd blog posting which I encourage you to do at http://barnhardt.biz/ )
You see, in this interview Ann is discussing the fact that she has taken her protest to the next level. She has called for a General Strike on the Capital Markets! And Peter, who on one hand completely acknowledges the validity of Barnhardt’s claims against the thoroughly corrupt and broken system, can’t separate himself from his attachment to it…unwittingly manifesting the rich in spirit, rich in fact element! And he’s not alone!
How many of us waking up today know what we have always known in our heart of hearts. And what’s more…we see the rising waters around us and lapping at our feet while we cling to more and more and more.
This is what Christ meant when He said, “And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven. And when they had heard this, the disciples wondered very much, saying: Who then can be saved? And Jesus beholding, said to them: “With men this is impossible: but with God all things are possible.” Matthew 19: 24-27
Merry Christmas dear friend….Let every heart prepare him room, and think of what we can give away.
http://shutupnsing.wordpress.com/2011/12/25/the-sunday-morning-tune-up-christmas-edition/
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