Screeching Words...

I have an older desk chair that I bartered for way-back-when in 1992.  It definitely has that ‘80’s chrome business look and sports a green seat cover that has never matched anything in any room it’s been in over the years, but it has held up well and is still very comfortable and supportive in all the right places.  It has also traveled across country on numerous occasions during our various moves over the years.

Lately though, it has developed a loud screech when I rotate it to the left or right… so much so that it definitely has gained the mis-taste of my dog… and tends to pull my concentration away from whatever story I am writing at the moment and make me focus on the sound it makes… I’ve been known to get so involved in my writing, be it this blog, or a puppet skit or a play or a song… that I lose all sense of time and activity around me… only to be drawn back, in the past, to reality at the sound of my sweet wife’s voice gently calling “JIM!”

I’ve tried my usual go-to remedy of WD 40 on all the moving parts and springs that I can see, but to no avail.  My next step will have to include a few tools in order to remove the seat and explore the unseen workings underneath!  But it doesn’t make the ear-piercing noise every time and in fact, I had forgotten about it temporarily, until I was reminded of it this morning when I read from I Corinthians 13:1 in The Message Bible which declared,

“If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.” 

I’ve opened some gates and car doors alike, that make a lot of uncomfortable-to-the-ears noises when they are opened… haven’t you?  The driver’s side door on my parent’s old 1951 Chevy definitely liked to screech at times when it was opened… especially when I would slowly and romantically open the door for my high school sweetheart to slide onto the front seat next to me.  The high-pitched sound tended to spoil the ambiance of the moment after a dinner date at a nice restaurant and a quiet handholding walk back to the car!

The King James version references this sound to that of a “tinkling cymbal” with the word “tinkling” meaning, “to vociferate, that is, (by implication) to wail; figuratively to clang, or to raise the war cry.” (Strong’s/Mounce)  In other words… it is not only an irritating sound, but can cause one to become anxious, like as the sound of an enemy’s war cry… sort of like the fear that the Confederate Rebel Yell elicited in the ranks of the northern armies on the battlefield during the Civil War.

I learned many lessons about the God kind of LOVE, along the way of our final journey with Piper’s declining health.  I have first-hand experience of words of LOVE being spoken without the actions and heart motive to back them up.  This false interpretation of God’s true LOVE resulted with the sound penetrating my ears with the same power and discomfort of a loud, ear-piercing screech.  On the other hand, I have had people I didn’t even know stop and share heart-felt words of LOVE, that they offered to back up with action, that were received into my hurting heart like the sweet, soothing salve of the balm of Gilead (See: Jeremiah 8:22).

I Corinthians 13:7 informs us that the DOING of the God kind of LOVE,

“Puts up with anything, Trusts God always, Always looks for the best, Never looks back, But keeps going to the end.”  (MSG) 

I discovered the hard way… that the imitations of God’s LOVE can stop the progress of God’s intervention in our lives.  They can easily cause the one on the receiving end of such false information to be side tracked into questioning their own faith or be drawn into the arena of anger that generates fear and unforgiveness… while the purveyors of such mistaken and thoughtless words can end up losing all positive contact with those with whom they spoke.  For those who either knowingly or unknowingly share such untruths, it leads down a slippery slope that can eventually end up without a way out!

I am pretty sure that most of you would agree that true Godly LOVE isn’t always the easiest or most convenient way to enter into someone’s life, but it definitely is the right choice to bring a healing balm into the midst of any situation.  I like the way that The Passion Translation states the Apostle Paul’s concluding thoughts of the God kind of LOVE while we all wait for the second coming of Christ saying:

“Until then, there are three things that remain: faith, hope, and love—yet love surpasses them all. So above all else, let love be the beautiful prize for which you run.”  I Corinthians 13:13 

That’s gonna be my plan… to live the rest of my life with the God Kind of LOVE in my words, actions and heart, being the beautiful prize for which I run!

How about you?

I pray that you all have a spectacular weekend.  Ours is supposed to turn warm and sunny… with a noticeable absence (I hope) of the strong winds we’re still experiencing today!  These winds may not emit a screeching sound, but they do vibrate off the trees, windows and our glass chines on the front porch to produce a low, tingling roar that most definitely is unsettling to my dog!  He and I will both be happy when they stop!

But until then, we are… as well as I believe that you are… EXPECTING God’s best in our lives!