It is 19 June – Father’s day 2022. We are, yet AGAIN late for church. And it is not because we planned it like this or slept until ten past nine. No, that is just how our morning worked out to be. We are working hard at being on time, but it is something that we just cannot achieve at this stage it seems.
At one stage while we are driving to the church, it just felt like we are not getting there while the time is just passing by. Time and tide waits for no man is what went through my mind at that stage. I have been thinking about that saying for a few days now and realised just how true it really is.
At one stage I almost even gave up hope of getting to church. Almost thought that we are going to do something else rather than to attend church. But luckily, we arrived. Rather late than never.
The guest speaker, Alan Sutton takes the stand on the stage. I hang onto every word that this oom is saying (uncle just sounds wrong because to me he is an oom like we refer to elder men in Afrikaans), because, inside me, it is as if that which I have been feeling for such a long time, has been put into words even better than what I could ever tell. He brings together two things that I never thought of in this manner.
Gifts of the spirit and fruits of the spirit. He continues to explain that the Holy Spirit works IN you and then THROUGH you. I hope I remembered correctly, but working IN you is the fruit of the Spirit. You know – the scripture in Galatians where it talks about love, patience, those things that I did not display in the early morning hours this past weekend, when my son, who struggled to sleep again, came to me for help. I was Momster AGAIN.
None the less. Then the Holy Spirit works THROUGH you and this is where the gifts of the Spirit come in. The word of knowledge, speaking in tongues, those things. The stuff that I always thought, growing up, was only available to the people from the Bible and more so, only the disciples and not for us living in modern times.
As he was talking, I suddenly, randomly and out of nowhere, saw a Prism. You know – the one we used at school in Science? The one where you shine the white light in and it breaks it up into the seven colours of the rainbow. That Prism.
I realised that God used this vision, if I can refer to it as such, to show me even better what the oom means. You see, you must first allow the Holy Spirit to work IN you (God’s pure white light shining INTO the Prism) and then He can work THROUGH you (the rainbow colors that is reflected from the Prism). The rainbow colors shows to the world the beauty of God – and the rainbow is God’s promise to us is it not?
We must be light bearers in this dark world. And we must show the world the fruit of the Spirit. Every day, not only Sundays. In everything that we do. This is something that I stand for and what God showed me years ago already. Something I strive for on a daily basis. Something that Kobus Windt, our pastor, also says quite often – sleeping in a garage does not make you a car. In the same manner you cannot be a proper Christian if you only go to church on a Sunday and only act like a Christian on selected times.
I grasp almost immediately what the oom meant and wonder if everyone listening to him really grasped it? You see, something else that I stand for is Righteousness. To ALWAYS do the right thing, even if no one is watching.
This is the symbolic meaning of the Beroepsvrou aprons – the breastplate of Righteousness, when you serve your family while preparing the meals that must feed everyone physically (but also spiritually). You see, I recon you must first get this concept right with those closest to you, before you can show it to the world.
It is not always easy. Like this past weekend’s Momster that came out in me. You see, the moment that my children, that are big and supposed to sleep through, prevent me from sleeping or wake me up just as I had fallen asleep, then Momster comes out sometimes. I sometimes struggle to sleep, if you were wondering why this is such an issue to me. These days the struggle is less than what it used to be in the past. I try my utmost best to be patient in the middle of the night and many times I do get that part right. But, there is the exception to the rule, when I am extremely tired and slept terrible a few nights before, that I fail in this.
To get back to the oom’s message – there are some other things that he said that caught my attention, with scripture, that I want to blog about. And that is God’s breath in our lungs and looking for God in everything (God is in the detail). I am therefore not going to expand on this right now, I will keep that for another entry or two. Because I cannot remember if I have written about this yet? You see, I write as much as what I talk and I talk as much as what I write, I cannot always remember what were mere thoughts and what were words spoken or written.
The long and the short of the message and that which God showed me – are you going to be a prism for Him so that He can use you to expand His kingdom? Are you going to allow His light to shine in and through you so that you can reflect to the world the colours of the rainbow?
I know I am there – more than prepared to be a prism for God’s kingdom. Hundred and ten percent. I am all in for God and His kingdom. Every time I hear the song from Matthew West called All in then I think, I recon I am all in. Boots and all. I want to shout from the rooftops that I am His, like the song from Kim Walker called Rooftops.
It is strange to me that everyone does not feel like I feel. It is then so obvious and logical. I recon God is busy getting everyone’s prisms ready and perhaps why they do not feel quite as passionate yet as what I do.
Some are not in the correct spot where the light shines on it and comes in at the right angle. They are close but not there. Other prisms are still in their boxes that they came in, or perhaps they even placed God in a box, so that the light cannot reach them.
Where does your prism stand? Are you in a place where you can receive God’s light? Have you taken God out of the box you have tried to place Him in? Do you allow Him to work IN you so that He can work THROUGH you? What does your fruits of the Spirit look like and your Spiritual gifts? Are you doing what God placed you on earth to do?
I hope and believe that I do! I don’t always get it right, but I believe that my prism is standing ready to receive God’s light to reflect it back to the world, so that He can work IN me and then THROUGH me as and when needed!
Die Prisma
