When You Get Locked Out of Your Own Life
/Living in east Tennessee this year has presented it’s own set of challenges. Not that I’d want to live anywhere else. This is home. However, the amount of rainfall and flooding we have sustained has made it a challenge to find a decent day to venture outside. It has flooded so much, I’m quite certain they will have to change the flood zone mapping. It’s been brutal.
On the one pretty day we’ve had this week, I decided I’d walk my dog. We were both getting cabin fever. We needed sunshine and needed it badly. Normally, when I walk her, I have a little plastic purse thingy I hang around my neck to hold my keys and cell phone. On this day, I decided I didn’t need my cell phone, and I grabbed the wrong set of keys. Result…you guessed it…I was locked out of the house. And since I take my own advice to other widows and lock my car door, I was effectively locked out of my own life for about 30 minutes.
Luckily, I do have a benefit on my auto insurance that allows me a “get out of jail free” card—they will come unlock your car for you. Since my garage door opener was in my car, and since I was locked out of my car as well as my home, I took advantage of that benefit. The dog was happy to get extra time outdoors, and my neighbor brought me a chair to sit in, so Trixie and I had a good ole time waiting on the locksmith. The only thing that would’ve made it perfect was a glass of iced tea. You can’t have everything…
Today, when I was thinking about what to write, this incident came to my mind. We often have things —unexpected things—happen to us. Life often hands us a check for a meal we don’t enjoy, like a snarky waiter after a bad meal. Getting locked out of my house was NOT the worse thing that has ever happened to me by far. But, it DID bring this to my mind—do we lock ourselves out of our own lives? And what do we do about it when we do?
Emotionally speaking, there have been times when I feel like I’m going through the motions of life. I’m not certain how this happens. There are times when I discovered I’d been a little lax in some of the areas of my life—i wasn’t reading my Bible enough (or at all), I wasn’t spending my time in prayer (they felt like they were bouncing off the ceiling), and I was getting undisciplined in just about every area of my life. It wasn’t a huge thing, but it was a thing, nevertheless. This was a time when I needed a life coach myself. It wasn’t that I was involved in some type of illegal activity, like joining the mafia, going on a killing spree or blowing up a bank. Rather, it was a cessation of being diligent to guard against the enemy of my soul. I was locked out of my own life, because it had been hijacked—hijacked by my own rebellious nature and attitude.
We humans love getting our way. We love those things that aren’t good for us. We consistently step over God’s boundary line into enemy territory. Thank God for His mercy and grace. For me, it was a rude awakening, because if anyone had asked me, I would’ve said everything was great. But it wasn’t. It was (of all things)…mundane. I had no excitement in my spiritual life and what’s more, I didn’t particularly want any. I allowed myself to be lulled—lullabyed into sleep. I looked up the word “lullaby” and the root of that word is terrifying. It seems the word “lullaby” comes from a “lu-lu” sound used by mothers to lull their children to sleep. It is thought to be a shortened version of “Lilith-bye”. According to legend, Lilith was an evil angel (there’s a whole backstory there I’m not going to get into). Mothers sang a “lilith-bye” to keep this evil angel away from their children. It’s amazing what a quick Google search will turn up…At any rate, the word “lull” comes from “lullaby.” That’s enough to make me skeptical of the word and it’s origin. I don’t need lulling. I need energizing. I need to be Queen of my own life, and so do you you.
Once we realize we’ve been “lulled” (we could even use the word “seduced” and I don’t believe it would be inaccurate), we have an opportunity. We have an opportunity to shake off the sleep, rise from the ashes, and galvanize ourselves with purpose. For me, this involved a good deal of crying and contrition, straightening my shoulders, and seizing control of my own life again. No longer would I be subject to whims. I would set goals. I would achieve said goals because I had a plan…a plan with which to move forward with my life…a plan to overcome obstacles. A plan that involved God actively participating in my life as He was meant to do all along. I don’t think I left Him behind exactly—it was more like I became boring—something I vowed NEVER to be! And most importantly, even though I felt like I was locked out of my spiritual life, I HAD THE KEY TO THE LOCK!
The Bible is many things…never boring. With the help of God, I am no longer locked out of my own life. I am not longer boring, and I feel vital, vibrant and whole. It was a process that didn’t happen overnight, and it’s a process we walk out until the day we die. By no means do I think I have arrived at something. It’s more like a journey…a exciting journey into the unknown with the greatest tour guide EVER leading me. I would love to hear your journey as well. Drop me a comment here on this page or send me an email. I want to encourage you and walk with you, as you walk with me. God bless, my friends!
