"Fat Man's Misery" at Natural Bridge
“Better suck in your bellies! We are going through Fat Man’s Misery” said my 7 yr old son to everybody following him.
“Fat Man’s Misery” was the last part of the hike up to the Natural Bridge. It was chilly and damp within the stone walls that seemed to reach so high. We had to look down to see where we would step but if we looked up we might lose our footing.
Many of our lives are lived within Fat Man’s Misery, closed in, cut off from others, looking down and not daring to look up and not really observing the stone walls that hold us in only moving forward slowly and cautiously so we don’t lose our footing. There are so many stone walls in our lives that block out the light, the warmth and the sun. We can feel the sun’s warmth from a distance but not directly. We feel pushed through that path and closed in by those walls. Many walls are created by our society and the attitudes and values they hold. How many of us felt from a very young age that we had to have a career picked out that would bring us monetary success? We were to look at careers that would make money and that would bring us happiness. Yet, as adults we now realize that money is necessary in this life to get through it however, if we did not follow our passion and just work for money the stone walls are so tall from the career we hold that we cannot glimpse the light of day. If what we exist for is money and things we are closing ourselves in to the dark and dampness of the walls.
When we consciously decide to break that mindset that the US holds as the number 1 priority in this world then we can see the light again. When we stop worshiping money and the creature comforts of material possessions we can feel the warmth. When we have the ephinay that money only gets you through this life but the purpose of it cannot be found through financial stability but searching one’s soul for the truth of our own existence, the walls can come crumbling down but it will take a sledgehammer, a change of heart, of mind and of lifestyle to achieve it.
When you are ready to stop shuffling through Fat Man’s Misery and are ready to open your mind to the wisdom of God and your heart to His Unconditional love then misery will no longer follow you.
Excellent reflection Lori.
It makes me think of President Reagan’s words to Mikhail Gorbachev.
Freedom can only come if we tear down some walls.
Lori, thanks for this reflection. my walls lately are not money, but the education to do what God has called me to do. If i had a dollar for every time someone said “i don’t know how you do it” I would be rich, but still in school! Yesterday I sat very frustrated in front of my computer as I read an e-mail that stated that I lost out on yet another scholarship. I am soooo tired and ready for summer break and so glad I get a summer break. Money will not stop me, I will finish college with or without a scholarship. My walls broke down a little this morning when I remembered the bible verse…..lean not on your own understanding, but God’s. He started me out on this venture of college and He will get me through so that I may take care of His people the same way He takes care of me.
My grown daughter just said to me this morning, “If I could just see the light at the end of the tunnel”. She was in a lot of pain at the time and the mother bear in me wanted to protect her at any cost. God popped a scripture up for both of us:
We walk by faith, not by sight. Sometimes to get to the end of the tunnel, it takes tapping the stick of obedience in front of us as we move blindly forward. Thanks for the reflection. It helped!