It’s a Monday, the first day of another sweltering week here in Oxford, Ohio. I’m missing the beach, the incredible convenience of cool water and the poetic redundancy of the tide’s song. I’m also missing the easiness of the ocean, it’s whispers of consistency. Sure, some pushes of waves may come faster, stronger, but never, ever does Mr. Ocean hold out on pushing one to shore for more than a few moments. That’s something I really like about him.
I have the incredible opportunity to hang out with a group of girls whom I care for so deeply today. We meet on Mondays to talk about life and what happens in it, which is a lot of things. Today, we’re talking about spiritual warfare, which is a bit terrifying to lead a discussion on, let alone understand and imitate a doctrine that calls us as Saints to fight valiantly. Friends, we’re in a battle. The ocean, though beautiful and cleansing and consistent, is not a fair picture of our lives, well, let me rephrase. The point at which the ocean meets the sand is a false representation of our lives. The illusion of consistency is easily extracted. The real, big, scary, Deadliest Catch waves in the real, big, scary ocean…they’re not that uncommon, now are they?
Good thing we have armor. Ephesians 6:10-20 explains the elements of our internal defense system against the war being waged against our eternal souls. It’s exciting, reassuring, and sometimes, it even gives you the feeling you get when you watch Remember the Titans and the game is about to begin and Coach Boone get’s all those boys wound up and ready to win. Everyone likes that feeling. But this is a tangent.
I know this battle. I confess that all too often I don’t fight it. I just lay down and play dead so that maybe the enemy buys it and doesn’t stab me in the heart. Here’s the problem with that: I’m pretty bad at playing dead, so I always end up getting burned. So my options are lay down and die, or stand up and fight. Those are your options to. So what’ll it be today?
a wild olive shoot 