This is another entry in the chronicles of the ridiculousness that is sometimes my life. I burned myself the other day. While this statement, on the surface, doesn't seem to drip with the ridiculousness that you've all come to expect from me, let me further explain. I burned myself on the outside corner of my eye, right where my lashes end and my upper and lower lids meet. Again, that may not sound all that strange to some, but such are the people I run with. It was the manner in which I created said burnt that was different. I blame my eyeliner, well, my eyeliner with a little help from my lighter.
I was in a hurry to get ready to go somewhere (who knows where!) and I was slapping on some make-up. Ladies, you know what I mean by that, men, just turn away and go about your business. When I tried to apply my charcoal grey eyeliner I found it was hard as a rock and refused to leave so much as a smudge on my, as yet unadorned, eyes. So I did what any red blooded American woman who had grown up in the 80's would do. I set it on fire to soften it. Just about any lady who came of age in the decade of big hair, leg warmers, scrunchies and black eye liner would know,(and some men as well, it was the 80's after all!). It was the perfect way to melt your liner pencil just enough to make it go on smoothly. The trick was to time it just right so it was still soft, but not so hot that you burned yourself. Well, it seems that 25 years later, I have lost my touch. To make matters worse, it was still so soft it stuck to the skin and kept burning as I jumped around the bathroom half dressed and shouted things I'm glad no one was home to hear!
It was not to be my last foray into the land of eye liner Hades.
A week later, I was, once again, hurry to get somewhere and was, once again, slapping on some make-up. I found a lovely soft, raisin colored, eye liner that I had not worn in a very long time. It was lodged in the back of the drawer in the bathroom. After the debacle of the last time I had tried to apply eye make-up in a hurry, I was glad to see this old friend that I remembered was so easy to put on. I outlined my peepers, added a little mascara and was out the door. It wasn't until later that afternoon that I noticed my eyes were a little itchy. By early evening, they were weepy and starting to swell. By bedtime they were burning and weepy and itchy and pretty swollen. The next morning, they were swollen shut! It seems my lovely, old, raisin colored eye liner was contaminated! It has been almost a week now and most of the swelling is down, the itching has mostly stopped and the weepiness has abated. My friend is in the trash bin and I have sworn off all types of eye make-up for anytime in the near future!
You know I can't leave it here. Nope! I feel like one of those tv hawkers..... "but wait! there's more!! order now and you'll get the other side of the story!!!"
I learned what happens when you return to your old ways, you can get burned. Stay with me, I've moved on from eye make-up and I'm talking about life in general now, more specifically, life with the Lord. As we walk with him we are embarked on a journey of discovery, a journey of adventure. It is a journey of fresh discoveries of both ourselves and of Him. We do not have to stay stagnated in the same place. What worked for me 25 years ago is no longer the best thing for me, in life and in make up! Just because something worked for your life 10 years ago doesn't mean the Lord wants you to stay there. The word says in Is 43:19
Behold, I will do a new thing,
Now it shall spring forth;
Shall you not know it?
I will even make a road in the wilderness
And rivers in the desert.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying throw out all the things you learned of God from years past. Goodness, no! I'm saying be open to the new things as well. Look at it this way, there's nothing wrong with baby food. I have nothing against strained peaches and pureed bananas, but I don't want to eat it now! Give me a nice juicy rib-eye or a yummy, sweet chocolate donut. I don't want to go back to baby food at this point in my life. I've moved on to something different, something more suited for where I am at this point in my life. I still have the ability to return to the smashed veggies of the past should the need arrive, (dear Lord, please don't ever let the need arrive!!!!) but just because it worked so well for me once doesn't mean I need to stay there.
So it is in life. Some of the old ways were good ways, and while we will forever retain the ability to walk in those old ways, isn't it exciting to be allowed to walk in the new things the Lord is doing? The Lord is never stagnant, He never changes, but also is never stagnant. We serve a multifaceted God we can never fully understand in His entirety. If we will allow Him to, He will continually show us new sides of His nature, new depths of His character, new aspects of His personality. Don't get stuck in the old ways so much that you miss other sides of Himself the Lord wants to show you.
So this week, my goal will be to look forward, to move forward, to journey into the unknown! I challenge you to join me on the adventure of a life time. I'll be moving into the fresh, newness that is my Lord. I may be moving a little slowly, though, the swelling isn't quite gone and I don't see so well! Maybe I need a spiritual seeing eye dog, or at least one who can sniff out when eye liner has gone bad. I think I saw that on the discovery channel; When good make-up goes bad, part 3.
Till next time I'll be here, itching, swelling, but looking fabulous! Now has anybody seen my legwarmers and my Cyndi Lauper tape????
Spokenfor
Well said as usual.
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