“Come on, Mr. Frodo,” said Sam as his extreme weariness gave way to new strength. “I can’t carry it for you… but I can carry you!” Then he lifted Frodo over his shoulder, and with a renewed measure of courage, carried him the rest of the way to their crucial destination.
Individual freedom, autonomy, self-reliance; these qualities are admired and emulated within our society. Strong, able men who know what they want are valued. Resilient, decisive women who can stand on their own two feet are esteemed. Popular, motivated kids are picked first for the team and their words and ways are emulated by their peers.
Do these phrases sound familiar? “I don’t want to be a burden.” “I’ll be fine.” “I’m good.” “Oh, I appreciate the thought, but no thanks.” “I’ll call you if I need you.” “It’s really not that bad.” “I’ll get used to it.” “There are plenty of people worse off than me.” “Oh well; I’ve got it to do.”…
Dependency is a difficult pill to swallow. Whenever opportunity arises, whether it is as a result of an illness, age, inability, lack of resources, sudden economic turn, disaster, loss, abnormality, accident, or becoming victimized, the common reaction is to tough it out as long as possible, then feel guilty when assistance is received. Help is appreciated, but the goal is to become independent as soon as possible and be “on my own” once again.
If God had wanted us to function on our own, He might have simply given us each our own planet; it would seem a more fitting accommodation for our outlook on life. But He purposefully placed an interesting variety of people with a wide spectrum of neediness here on earth together. Not only that, none of us can completely meet each other’s needs even if we succumb to interdependence and try hard to help each other.
Dependency, then, must be given proper direction in order to be effective, trustworthy and whole. When the grasp of dependency upon self, others and all else is released, and is wholly submitted to God, there is peace and rest. When dependency upon God dons shoes and begins to move, it displays His gift of faith.
If a brain has incurred damage, there is a need to reroute the synapse, or brain wave connections, for function to be revitalized, as those damaged cell tissues are useless and will not grow back. A neurosurgeon once said that after pressure is relieved or surgery is done, all there is left to do is to wait and see if redirection of brain waves will occur; the telltale sign being when the loss of ability is eventually regained. This rerouting of entirely new brain wave passages, which bypass the dead cells, may be likened to faith.
God’s gift of faith offers hope where there is none left, life beyond prevailing destruction, and the ability to rise again to meet the challenges ahead. Faith is not an individual, self-preserved commodity; it must reach upward and outward. Faith is active, electric, radiating. Its presence, in and of itself, cannot be seen or heard or tasted or even defined; rather its presence is made obvious by the change which follows in its wake.
Faith is the act of lifting up what has fallen, and transporting it into the presence of the Giver of Faith, the Great Physician, the Savior, the Redeemer; Jesus!
“…they came, bringing to Him a paralytic,
carried by four men.
Being unable to get to Him because of the crowd,
they removed the roof above Him;
and when they had dug an opening,
they let down the pallet
on which the paralytic was lying.
And Jesus,
seeing their faith,
said to the paralytic,
‘Son, your sins are forgiven.’”
~Mark 2:1-5
*Reader’s observations of Return of the King, by J.R.R. Tolkien, are not cited from the original text.
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