The wall of evil
In my garden there’s an old wall that’s over 6 feet high, which is really, I mean really ugly!!!
(because it gets between the little flowers and the sun!!!)
The sledgehammer of prayer
I decided to take it down with my own hands (I am the defender of little flowers). With a fury that is unusual for me (with a little help from a sledgehammer)
I struck a blow against this shadowy wall.
At the same time, in my heart,
I rained prayer upon prayer against the walls present in my own life, its injustices, recurrent struggles and other adversities.
I refuse to just sit there and take it!
Half an hour later:
The wall: bearing hardly a scratch…
Me: down and out!!
Are my prayers not working?!?
It’s a bit like some of my long-term prayer requests; I’m still waiting for them to be granted…
also:
In church, why is it always the same people who come forward to ask for healing (?!?) Is it because it hasn’t actually worked for them before?
My line of reasoning runs me up against a dead end…
Small, but powerful
My observations of the natural world have taught me one thing.
Something small,
Done faithfully, over and over again,
Becomes big.
Perseverance will enable us to break through.
I apply this principle to my art,
So why don’t I apply it to a wall?
The battle is won in the head
Driven above all by my motivation to break down the walls in my own life,
I decided that I would spend one hour each day hammering out a solution
Because to break down a wall in the outside world,
You must first break it down in your head.
More than mere muscles, you need to believe it’s possible!!!
Your strength is found in faith.
Even so, my efforts seemed pitiful ….
The coup de grâce
After a couple of days,
I finally managed to put a hole through the wall!
It was weird, just before that section of the wall gave way,
the sound of the sledgehammer impact against it changed…
My question is:
Does that mean that the hundreds of blows that rained down upon it before that point accomplished nothing at all?
Mmm…
I think that they all counted for something
No prayer is ineffective…
Plan B
I was really encouraged by this little hole…!
At the same time, I had to admit that there was still a long way to go:
– ‘Ahhh!! help me Lord!’
A voice behind me says:
– ‘that’s not the way to do it, buddy!’
I turned round, and to my great surprise, standing before me was Whoetallthegritz (that’s not his real name, by the way!) a friend who hardly ever gets out of the house because he suffers from a bone condition – if he fell, he’d break into little pieces (certainly more easily than my wall would!!)
– ‘dig beneath it,’
He said,
– ‘it’ll save you a lot of time!’
Then he left.
Me:
– ‘dig beneath it!’
Whaa …?! What sort of idea is that…(?)
That wasn’t what I’d been planning to do at all…!
I kept on hammering against the wall …
But the noise couldn’t drown out my thoughts:
‘What if God was talking to me through Whoetallthegritz?’
Something even stronger than prayer!
In the end, I started to dig beneath the wall,
attached one end of a rope to the wall, the other to my car and stepped on the gas. The wall collapsed almost immediately!!!
(I had to step on the gas, otherwise the wall would have fallen on the car!)
BLAMM!!!
The wall came crashing down with such force that it startled my little family, who were sitting in the living room. Immediately, like the most beautiful freeze-frame shot imaginable, they all ran into view, framed in the window
Their ever-so slightly unconventional pop had finally come up with the goods!
It was then that I understood something very important,
There is something even stronger than prayer:
Listening to God!
Something stronger than perseverance:
grace.
Once the wall had fallen, it took me another couple of days of sweat (and shovel-work) to get rid of
The old soil and replace it with good, new soil.
Once it was all finished, I looked at my handiwork,
Took a handful of identical sunflower seeds and planted them outside my studio. The flowers that sprung up where the wall had been were absolutely massive!!! (I’ve never seen ones that big before!) It did me, and all the passers-by, good just to look at them…
The blackberries growing on the same spot produce a bumper crop
To the delight of all those who came to dine with us!
When confronted with positive challenges,
Stick at it, because what you will gain from it will be much greater than the
Initial effort that it required of you.
This wall has gone,
But my invisible walls are still there…
I continue to pray (and listen…)
And every day I get stronger.
Some walls start to crack, but others seem unshakeable…
But I believe that my God is greater still,
And even if it’s hard, I keep going…
‘Those who sow with tears
Will reap with songs of joy’. Psalm 126.v 5
Whatever wall you may have to break down,
Stick at it,
And one day, it will fall!
Alain