Head in the Clouds

I know a lot of people won’t admit it, and I honestly don’t want to either, but there is a voice in my head that I constantly try to push back. I ignore it and order it to flee, however when the sun says its goodbyes for the day and my head reunites with the pillow after a long day of school, my mind runs away before I can catch it and cage it again.

No, I am not talking about dreams, this is something more harmful than that. I am talking about a weapon God gave me to wield for His kingdom, but instead I have handed it over the enemy to use against me however he pleases. This weapon I am talking about is my imagination.

I believe that a lot of people secretly hope to have an adventure and I’ll be first to admit that. We look at exciting television shows or read thrilling novels where the main character who had a previous dull life is spirited away into a world of adventure where they embark on an epic journey.

Even if we don’t admit it, we hope that one day we ourselves will also be spirited away from our mediocre lives. We want to be thrown into a story, an adventure where we are that one girl or boy who’s not the brightest, or the prettiest, or the bravest but will board an expedition all our own. We, however, don’t see that day coming soon so in the meantime we keep our heads in the clouds.

We squander all the precious time God blessed us with and run fantasies of that life through our minds. This is dangerous and it is a trap I have been tangled in many times.

Instead of focusing on where God has me now, I look to the future when I will be older, wiser, in college, and well on my way to vocational ministry. That however is a terrible place to live for so many reasons:

1.       Tomorrow isn’t promised to me

a.       I could die before I even finish writing this post and all my hope would have been in the future me, not the me God has right now.

2.       I look at that future and forget the fact that that future will take time

a.       A godly woman doesn’t just rise out of bed one day; she is grown. I long to be wiser but that’s not going to happen automatically, I must go through the growing process like everyone else.

3.       I neglect the now

a.       If my mind is always living in two years from now, I am not focusing on the mission field God has placed me in (my home, school, and church).

4.       It sets me up for disappointment

a.       Isaiah 55:8-9 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

b.      Proverbs 16:9 The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.

c.       What I dream of is 99% likely not to happen.  That’s a fact I’ve learned the hard way these sixteen years on the earth. To borrow the proverbial term, my life never goes according to plan. (I have found that that is always best.) When I live in a fantasy world, I am always expecting something to happen (like I have the best first day of school) and when it doesn’t I am left in tears.

The last reason I feel is the most important:

5.       These fantasies, even if they’re good things, always focus on me. And I am not the star of the Story

a.       In the words of John the Baptist: John 3:30 He must increase, but I must decrease.

In reality, there is a story going on that is more exciting than anything I can make up in my mind or read in a book. It’s His story. The story of Jesus coming down to earth to die for my- our sins. I could live in a fantasy world all day, but would be missing the point of life: Jesus. There is nothing more exciting than living a story where my King is the main character, the hero.

The fact that my head usually lives in the clouds is a good thing. That’s where God wants it. (Colossians 3:2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.) He just wants my mind to be on Him because I am His.

Colossians 3:1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

When We Act Like Doctor Manette

[If I have gotten any info wrong on the wonderful novel mentioned below, bear with me, I have only read it once and you need to read it more to grasp the whole concept.]


In the novel A Tale of Two Cities there is a character named Doctor Manette and he is thrown in jail for eighteen years, however he was thought to be dead. In Book the First of a Tale of Two Cities, Doctor Manette is “Recalled to Life” because as it turns out, he’s not dead! … Well, he's not physically dead. Mr. Lorry and Doctor Manette’s teenage daughter, Lucie, go to get him from where he is being kept.

Doctor Manette has lost it. When Mr. Lorry and Lucie find him, he doesn’t even call himself Doctor Manette, but the name of the tower he was previously residing in. And to add to all that, all he does day and night is make shoes. Fast forward five years and Dr. M is a normal person living with his daughter safely in another city. However he still keeps his old shoe making bench and tools and he isn’t exactly sure what happened to him the years before. Besides all that, though, he is happy with his daughter.

This is Dickens though, and the book is three hundred something pages long so that’s not the happy ending of Dr. Manette. One night after Charles Darnay marries Dr. Manette ’s daughter, Dr. Manette  relapse or “backslides” as Christians call it. He returns to making shoes for nine whole days. Eventually his friends, Mr. Lorry and Miss Pross have to destroy his shoe maker bench and bury his tools.

You may be wondering why I’ve just summarized a snipped of a Charles Dickens book. Well I’m reading it in English class so this is just like a study guide for me. Just kidding. I am writing about it because in some way I feel like the story of Doctor Manette can be an allegory for Christians. You may be wondering “how?” Or you may already have an idea of what I’m about to say.

Before we were saved and became Christians, we were dead in our trespasses and sin (Ephesians 2:1) just like how Doctor Manette was dead (not physically but mentally, similar to how we’re not physically dead, just spiritually). However, someone came to get us: Jesus. So we are saved from our condition of being dead not because of anything we did, but only because of Jesus.

Jesus brought us from being a crazy dead person and into a family (similar to how Doctor Manette was in a family with his daughter). We no longer need to go back to shoe making or our sinful addictions. Over time we learn that Jesus saves us from our addictions because we are a new creation.

I love how Colossians 3:1-17 talks about us being a new person in Him.

Colossians 3:12-14 (NKJV)

Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.  But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.

We are called God’s “holy and beloved” so we become something more now that we are made alive in Him. As Christians we are to put on all of the attributes of God. Ephesians 5:1 says we are to be "imitators of God". That doesn’t mean we don’t sin, because we are not God, but we are new creations.

But… something happens… at least it happens to me. I am free from this sin, this thing that’s been a hold over my life for years and suddenly… suddenly I don’t know what to do and I find myself sliding back into the swamp of sin and shame and guilt, wondering what just happened???

The Bible calls this “Backsliding” and it happened to the Israelites time and time again. Just like how Doctor Manette went back to his shoemaking, I go back to my old addiction. So what’s the answer? Lucky for us the beginning of Colossians 3 explains it. Just like Doctor Manette’s shoemaker’s bench had to be destroyed, we have to put sin to death.

Colossians 3:1-7 (NKJV)
If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.  Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.  When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.  Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them. (Bold added)

But easier said than done right? How do you kill your “members which are on the earth”? Well I have something hopefully encouraging to say: YOU can’t! Encouraged? Let me finish that: YOU can’t, but God will.

And how does He put your sin to death? With a little thing we call the armor of God.

[Stay tuned for the end of "When We Act Like Doctor Manette" which is coming out next week and will feature the Armor of God!]

Memory Verse Wednesday: Colossians 3:17

Today's verse is one I myself definitely need to be more mindful of:

Colossians 3:17-And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

A lot of times I will complain and have a bad attitude when I am forced to do a particularly vigorous task. Since God's word commands us to do everything without murmuring or complaining I already shouldn't be doing that. However saying verses like this gives me a new perspective. Like if I am doing dishes late at night because I procrastinated all week I will tell myself "pretend like you're washing God's dishes".
I hope you will memorize this verse with me too this week.
Here is another tip for memorizing scripture:

• I change my phone wallpaper to the verse so that every time I do something on my phone I can easily read through the verse