Stuck in a Season of Isolation?
Loner, Odd Man Out, Wild Duck, Outcast, Know-It-All, Talks too Much in Class... Misfit. Have you ever been called any of these things, or felt alone and isolated?
I woke up to these words rolling about in my head and as I walked into the downstairs bathroom trying to decipher what they meant, I saw a People Magazine my mom had bought sitting on the window sill. The issue was featuring Princess Kate Middleton and her return to Royal life after a year spent out of the service of her royal duties to focus on her health. As I glanced at the trade, the Lord spoke to me more clearly, "You know, she was a Wild Duck, she was an Odd Man Out."
I had never thought of her that way. Honestly, I don't think of her much at all, living across the pond and me not being a British subject. However I can imagine what it must have felt like growing up different. I am sure she always felt set apart in some way.
Isn't it true anytime you hear a notable person speak, they always comment on how out of place they felt in the mainstream. How intensely aware of their differences when they were in society and how everyone else seemed to be standing still. I think of Princess Kate in gym class being both beautiful and quick causing her to accelerate at sports, I think of the other girls being jealous of her talents, and how all the boys probably poked fun at her because they liked her. I can only imagine the resistance she must have had to walk in growing up as the future Queen of England who began her days attempting to live a "normal" life.
TALKS TOO MUCH IN CLASS
As a middle-schooler, I talked too much in class. Mr. Redman's class to be exact. It had gotten to the point where my friend David, me and another friend named Carrie had to be seperated in class with our desks put into the four corners of the English classroom. We were bored and creating continuous disruptions. We didn't "fit" in. We were separate in our thinking and in our actions, and in our disrupting of the flow, had to become separated.
This seems to be the world's solution to solving the "problem" of the misfit - isolation. "We don't know what to do with you, therefore we will annex you, confine you, and remove you from the pack. You don't belong with us."
IT'S NOT JUST THE WORLD'S SOLUTION...
Here is the uncomfortable truth... THEY are right. We don't belong in the pack and it isn't only the world's way of dealing with the "Odd Ones Out" it can also be the Lord's way of leading us into the next season of our lives.
The best thing Mr. Redman could do for me as a student was remove me from my buddies. In the alone time I was given, I was given the gift of solitude. What felt like a punishment at the time, gave me the room to be angry, to mourn, to resent, to accept and to move on. I didn't become a better student, I became a better person. Instead of chucking it up with my friends and forming a clique inside a group, I had to look within to answer a more important question "I know who I am WITH a group - but who am I APART from the group?"
Being alone, cast out and cast aside feels horrible at the time. I was never picked first for the team, I was rarely called when I raised my hand in class. These isolating incidents can cause us to feel as if we are destined to live lives of loners and outcasts - just like Jesus.
Wait what? Jesus was a loner, like me?
Different from birth, Jesus was born in a stable and placed in a trough. He was swaddled in rags. The first son of a step-dad and teen mom Jesus was raised in outcast level circumstances. His family young, honest, and hard working civilians living in a town of no reputation (can anything "good" come from Nazareth?) would have had to raise a son wise beyond his years (a know-it-all?) going so far as to astonish the religious leaders in the temple as young as 12 years old.
Jesus was certainly an Odd Man Out in need of social separation. However His initial annexation did not come from society, but from the leading of the Holy Spirit.
DID THE HOLY SPIRIT DO JESUS "DIRTY"?
4 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”
4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6 “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:
“‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”
7 Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9 “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”
10 Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”
11 Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.
Why would the Holy Spirit separate Jesus like that? Why did the Holy Spirit "do Jesus dirty"? (This is my vain attempt at using slang, when someone is "done dirty" it means they have been wronged... in case you didn't know).
Simple. Holy Spirit did this to Jesus so (like us) He could discover His true identity ALONE and SET APART from the herd. His TRUE identity as The Good Shepherd could only be revealed to HIMSELF while he was alone, tempted and facing the enemy in a head-to-head battle of wills.
Satan's will for His life, vs God's will for His life and thankfully in His isolation Christ overcame the adversary through the power of the Word and walked away in the willpower and WITH the willpower of God, His Father.
Shepherds are tended to by the angels, while sheep are tended to by the Shepherd. It is angelic provision when after a long period of isolation the "perfect" job appears out of nowhere. It is angelic provision when the healing you have been praying for manifests after months on end. It is an angelic and miraculous moment when all the cogs begin turning like clockwork after a season of feeling as if your separation will NEVER END. I would like to repeat that again - Shepherds are tended to by the angels, while sheep are tended to by the Shepherd.
Holy Spirit-
Thank you for this mornings revelation. Feeling odd and different can lead us into some very dark places. YOU in Your infinite wisdom can lead us into some pretty dark places (our own thoughts!). Perhaps today someone is right in the middle of their solitude season, Lord I ask that You would be with them and comfort them. I would humbly ask that You would give them the insight required to see for themselves WHO THEY ARE IN YOU and the purpose You have in their lives in order to shorten their season, if possible. Show them the repetative motions for strength they have been building so that when they come out of their dry season and can "drop and give 'em twenty" not only can they do the metaphorical push-ups of life, but they know EXACTLY how they were able to perform on demand. They were formed in their dessert BY YOU and on purpose to become Shepherds and not just sheep.
In Jesus' name I pray- AMEN
-Jessicah
On the agenda today:
Finish quilting the prototype Carriage Blanket I have been working on
Take the kids for a morning walk
Drink my coffee and look at the river
Rest and consider the moments of isolation in my past and pray regarding any potential isolation which will be required in the future... if any!
About the Author: Jessica Heilman is Co-Founder, Designer and Writer for 15Evergreen.com. You can learn more about her as well as her daughter Madeline, their ministry work and their company by clicking this link: ABOUT US
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