Last night I dreamed I was babysitting an adorable little girl in a grassy park at sunset. We were coloring, singing and having a good old time playing together. As time wore on, I became wary of letting her run around because the park grew full of unsavory characters as darkness approached.
Partly to protect the little girl, and partly for the fun of it, I lifted her onto my shoulders and we continued bopping around. I carefully supported her back as we frolicked.
Suddenly I felt her body go limp. Her featherweight arm fell into my right hand. Alarmed, I gently lowered her from my shoulders and her big brown eyes eased open. She yawned, exhausted. Her button nose needed attention pretty desperately. As I went about cleaning her beautiful face she sat peacefully, slightly pursing her lips and lifting her chin to make the job easier. She was clearly pleased about her helpfulness.
In the middle of tending to this sleepy, cute little lady my alarm blared, waking up the sleepy, cute little lady from her dreams.
Every one of us has an inner core of innocence, joy, peace and love that we must heal, care for, savagely protect and diligently maintain.
Every one of us is supported by the source of immeasurable, infinite strength, energy and power.
Every one of us is here, alive because we have a purpose to carry out in a place on Earth.
If we find ourselves in the wrong place and allow that power to enable the neglect of our innermost self we do ourselves an immense disservice. We have to be aware of how and why we wield His power and strength.
We shouldn’t use it when we’re somewhere we shouldn’t be, have drained ourselves, and need supernatural support to push through the obstacles we created through our own efforts. We should allow that higher source to dictate and order our efforts, so we can tend to our responsibilities, including shepherding our inner core.
When we struggle forward in our own strength we open a dangerous door to allow the temptation of distraction in.
Tempting distractions aren’t always fun stuff like movies, friends, or frivolity.
For many of us tempting distractions are struggle, illness, exhaustion, or being spread too thin.
It’s an abuse of faith to entrust our responsibilities to Him so we can overlook our own needs, for some supposedly worthy reason. We are His vessels. We can’t fail to care properly for His tools and then pray for a miracle to correct the brokenness.
Struggling for the wrong reasons will make us exhausted and unable to function fully.
At that point, we have to spend time and energy cleaning up after ourselves and recuperating, when that time could be focused on running full out toward our purpose.
Praying for power and strength as a super-fuel for a misaligned effort or a salve for self-inflicted wounds introduces resistance and rot where there should be love and healing.
What would we achieve if we would seek Him for alignment and healing so we could charge ahead together, instead of asking Him to carry us or drag us back to center?
It is our responsibility to make the time, take the steps to make sure we are physically, mentally, spiritually able to do what we were awakened to do.
In the dream, I responded to the environmental threat by protecting the little girl in a way that actually made it harder for me to see her and tend to her needs. When she became exhausted and snot-nosed I couldn’t see it. I could have chosen to leave the park and find someplace she could roam free, and lie down to rest instead of falling out. Instead, I tried to make it work.
It won’t always be easy.
It helps to remember that when you’re in a space that threatens your alignment and impairs your ability to focus completely on your charge… It is more wise to leave that space, seek alignment and focus than to struggle within it and fall prey to the distracting wake of misalignment, and lack of focus.
Don’t rob your purpose of energy and focus by constantly testing your capacity to bounce back.
We can’t afford to become dead weight on the team.
Tina Watkins Quaye 