Behind the Barbed Wire

For the better part of my adult life, since college, I have lived behind fences of barbed wire.

No!  I've not been in prison.

But I have not always lived in places where my job and my nationality have been looked at very favourably.  Where, while we have tried to bring peace, stability, and sovereignty, we are still at risk.

So I live behind barbed wire. 

Don't get me wrong, I can get out.  This city is AMAZING!  The food...to die for.   The traffic - very similar, if not worse, to L.A. (yes, it's possible).   The people - searching.   Looking to belong.   Trying to keep up with the Jones's.  Although, over here, it might be "keeping up with the Saliba's".

Anyhow....at the end of a shopping outing, a beach excursion, an amazing brunch on the Corniche,  a day of antique shopping, I go back behind the barbed wire.

From my porch I have the most amazing view of the Mediterranean Ocean - through the barbed wire.

Other than San Diego, CA and Corolla, NC, I have never seen more beautiful sunsets - through the barbed wire.   I love my piece of peace and tranquility, but it's through the barbed wire I get to enjoy it.  

At the end of the day, I can't leave whenever I want.  I can't tear down the barbed wire.   I can't pay someone to remove it.   I can't will it to be gone.   

While my barbed wire is literal, I know figurative barbed wire exists everywhere.

People live behind barbed wire with the hope that no one will notice the wire.   That others won't notice they don't have it all together?  That behind the barbed wire they feel like no one can hurt them, touch them, effect them.

 Are YOU choosing to live behind your figurative barbed wire?  

Someday...I know I won't always live behind barbed wire.    I'll be able to go to the grocery store whenever I want (not only when there is a scheduled outing).  I can stop at the local Starbucks on my way home from a weekend ski trip and not have to ask "permission".   Literal barbed wire is way easier to tear down than figurative barbed fences.  

It's time to get the wire cutters out.   It's time to tear down those walls.   Barbed wire is comfortable because you can see through the wire yet still have something between you and what you presume will hurt you.  You pretend your participating, your engaging, but you aren't.  You are still separating yourself from whatever it is on the other side of the wire.   You're depriving yourself of life, of love, of friendship.  Granted you're always shielding yourself from hurt, pain and disappointment.  But let me tell you a secret:  whether you are behind the barbed wire or not, you can and will still experience hurt, pain and disappointment - that's life! 

It may be really hard to take those first cuts on your own.   Maybe you need someone to help you snip, snip, snip.   Don't shut people out.  Don't pretend anymore that you enjoy looking at life from the outside.   Ask for help, ask for a listening ear.  Let others love and encourage you.  Let them take the kids for the weekend,  buy you a cup of coffee.  Baby steps, but start clipping those wires.

Maybe you are on the other side of the barbed wire...enjoying life, taking it with all its crazy twists and turns and you remember what it's like on the other side.  You can identify those that are shutting themselves off from all the good things their barbed wire is keeping them from. 

Reach out - offer to take the kids, offer to sit and chat over a cup of coffee, mow their lawn, clean their house.  Remember what it was like to live behind that barbed wire and encourage those around you still behind it to make that first clip.  Offer help, no one can do it on their own.

Remember....HE is able.  

Perfect Chairs Need Not Apply

My furniture arrived this week and I have been hustling and bustling around trying to get everything ready before my Pre-4th of July Party.   Friday afternoon I wasn't feeling my best so I sat down and began to put an Adirondack chair together.

Maybe you've seen one of these chairs at the Hotel Del or in the Outer Banks.  They are often seen sea-side in any state, country.   And here I am, on the Med, trying to bring a little bit of my hometown to my temporary home-town.

Mind you, I have never built one of these before and had no idea how much time I was about to invest in a project of this magnitude.   I turned on the t.v. and set out to build this little piece of the ocean.

First of all...there were MANY pieces.  I pulled out all the wood pieces and confirmed all my pieces were accounted for.  I did the same with the hardware. Everything was there. Next, the pre-assembly, beginning with the back of the chair. Easy-peasy.  I got this...no problem.

Wow, there is a lot of hardware to keep this chair together. LOTS of hardware. 

The directions are clear, but slightly confusing.  They tell you what number piece of wood goes with the next piece of wood and what hardware to use on each piece of wood.  While it seemed quite self-explanatory, if you didn't read each line word for word and check off each step, it was not difficult to miss a step. 

I understand why now the directions state not to tighten the pieces until the very end.

When I finished the first piece, I was so very proud of myself.   As I began to collect all the cardboard and plastic, I discovered...a piece of wood.   A piece of wood that should have been on my chair.  The directions said I would have an extra screw, and an extra bolt but there was nothing in the directions that said there would be an extra piece of wood.

I carefully set my chair on an even surface and sat down and put all my weight on the part of the chair with the missing piece of wood.

The chair....held!   It did not break, it did not fall apart.  It didn't even seem unsteady.  It was a great chair.   I moved it outside amongst all the other patio furniture and forgot about it. 

After my guests arrived and all the goodies were on the table.  After the BBQ had been started and everyone had a drink, I looked over to the Adirondack chair and someone was sitting in it, enjoying great fellowship with those around him. My chair was doing just fine.

Sunday I got around to building the second Adirondack chair.  Only this time, I read the directions and avoided distraction.   I wanted my full attention on building this chair.  And build it I did. And follow directions, I did. It took a lot of concentration and patience but I finished the chair and only had the correct amount of hardware left over.  

I have put my two masterpieces side by side for your viewing pleasure.

As you can see, they are different, they are not perfect, they don't have all their pieces, but they serve the same purpose.  They fulfill the reason they are put together as a chair and not used for firewood. 

I thought about myself a lot during this project.   I'm not perfect.   I have a missing piece or two (life can do that).   I have flaws and imperfections but I am still valuable.  I'm still useful to someone, I'm exactly who God made me to be, imperfections and all. 

I am so thankful that God still sees me usable even though I'm not perfect.   I'm thankful he doesn't judge me based on my imperfections.  He loves me the same.   He still has great plans for my life, despite my faults. 

We'll see how long the imperfect chair continues to do it's job.   I'm betting my entire tour.  You may even see some enhancements to my imperfect chair...but we will walk that road if/when we get there.

For today, what's in your life that you look at on a daily/weekly basis and think you should throw out or get rid of it because it's not quite right?   Look at it again.  Is it serving it's purpose?  Is it capable of being all it was meant to be even with it's inadequacies?

We're not perfect, not one of us...but God can use us just as we are, if we don't give up.  If we don't stop doing our part.  Praying for you friends.   HE IS ABLE!