LUMP OR LAMP?

This is an excerpt from the first book in the FROG Blog series (available on Kindle and Amazon). I am working with a team of 12 authors for the second book in the series, “The FROG Blog from a Frozen Lily Pad.” 

I learned about inspecting feelings when they need “tempering” (aka attitude adjustment). The speaker who taught about evaluating emotions said that when there is a weight of depression, a person has reverted to thinking about the prior experience. When there is restless anxiety, a person is attempting to live in the future. This gauge offers me a quick way to reel me into the present moment. A side note, just how long is a moment?

I write this reflection from a phase of life where much moving and much holding is simultaneously taking place. I don’t feel ready for the movements yet feel irritated by a holding pattern, according to my timetable. To keep myself from warring between frustration and panic, I frequently use my journals as reference books. I peruse 2-3 months of journal entries and see, in writing, that circumstantial changes have occurred.

Sometimes I simply forgot about key movements. I can either concentrate on the lump (setback) or choose to concentrate on the lamp of a lesson in front of me.

I picture the scene from The Lion King when Rafiki hits Simba on the head with his revelation stick. Simba knows he needs to return his Pride Rock home to complete his leadership mission yet is stuck in the chasm between hesitation and restless yearning.

Rafiki notices that the winds are changing and while Simba ponders the air shifts, Rafiki hits Simba in the head. When Simba questions why, Rafiki said the thump doesn’t matter, it’s in the past. He teaches Simba that sometimes one must go back to face the past but no matter what happened in the past, you can either run from it or learn from it. Rafiki swings at Simba again, but this time Simba takes the lamp (lesson) to his heart instead of another lump to his head.

What benefits do I receive by carrying the lumps of life instead of the lamps of lessons? Rubbing past lumps only distract me from the lamps lighting my future path. A genie will probably not appear when I rub the lamp, but the Lamp Lighter can fill me with hope and an invitation to look harder for His lesson. Rub the lump or rub the lamp?

Lord, help me use any lumps of my life only when they will teach me to move toward a future lamp lesson. Increase my desire to glance at the past as a land marker, but not a land mine. Guide me to be more aware of encouraging lamps and less focused on discouraging lumps.

Using my glasses for foresight and not hindsight, Christina