Walking on Ice ~ Part 2

First of all, dear reader, would you pray for me, because I am clumsy.
And the sidewalks are about the same temperature as the one posted
for the day on Weather Underground, which is

- 25* C

!!

This is the coldest I have ever walked on!

So the below-freezing, cold sidewalks are happy to have inch-thick
blobs, lumps, and sheets of ice on them.

Some of the sidewalks are not covered with an inch of ice and snow.
Some of them have a thin sheen of something icy, shiny, slippery, smooth.
And those places are subtle.
Sometimes the sidewalks are well walked on, and shoveling has taken place, and there is brown slush.

The brown stuff can obscure the ice stuff.

So the walking is hazardous.

Now below is where the discussion
takes a metaphorical turn, but there is only
one thing
I want the reader to take away from what is above.

The clumsy woman needs prayer
because we don't want to see her sitting down on the sidewalk
because that would mean somebody has to pick her up.
Embarrassing ~ but that is
the best case scenario.

We also know that she might have a broken bone or a torn ligament,
or something that would make the last days here
a real nuisance ~ for those
who are working very hard to take care of
the clumsy woman.


But we need to go on to the metaphor, right?
(And thanks so much for the prayers!)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Walking on slippery places is what living in the natural man among the members of the Body is like.

Oh, how I enjoyed the morning watch on Friday. We prayed concerning this point:

For the building of the Body of Christ and the fulfillment of God's eternal purpose, we must ~ through much and thorough prayer ~ confess the sin of individuality and individualism.

At this point, it would be good simply to quote a paragraph that we were reading and that impressed us so much:

            In order to be blended together, we need to confess the sin
            of individualism and individuality. Our individualism is a kind of
            principle, a kind of policy, with us. Every one of us has his
            own policy, his own human logic. Our individualism becomes
            our logic. In our church life we may be full of individuality.
            We may not care for others but may care only for ourselves.
            Even though we may still love others, we may not care for
            others. In loving others we may still care for ourselves.

            This is individuality. We need to confess this sin. As long as such
            germs remain within us, we cannot be one and we cannot be
            blended.

Later in the day I was considering that a sister can be hurt by others who didn't even seem to notice that they were a bit rough with her. She knows that she is the one who needs to change, and she wants to change, but it hurts a bit that someone who probably thinks that she loves this dear sister is unconscious concerning her own actions (or slights, or dismissiveness, or impatient look, or whatever delivered the blow to this sister). The sister realizes that she must change, but the ones sailing along obliviously need to change too.

And the Lord seemed to be pointing out that I am one of the oblivious ones. The issue here is whether my love is a love that cares. Or do I love just enough to love, but not to care? So I can't determine to love or to care, but I must go back to the first sentence in the point, that is, to confess.

We must confess our sins, and He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Thank You, Lord. We love You, and we praise You that You lived the life of a despised and forsaken man, and You know and sympathize. And You are ready to forgive and cleanse.