One day, in the country west of the city of Gladys, the
weather became somewhat warmer and the Frosticles upon the eaves began to
melt. I bethought me to go out from my
dwelling place and prune my fruit trees.
Now, it so happens
that I have several fruit trees and even now their number approacheth and in
fact is, seven. Each year, I desire to
taste their fruit and each year they Let me Down Hard.
For the frost
cometh at the wrong time and weather does not Cooperate. While there are many buds in the spring,
there few fruits in the fall.
Yet hope,
as has been said, springeth eternal. With this thought in mind,
I decided to prune those trees of affliction.
Yea and I even went forth to spray them with Horticultural Oil.
To this
endeavor, my youngest daughter set out to accompany me.
As I lopped off crossing limbs, Elise went walking through the yard saying in a voice like a Spring Storm, “You’re not the boss of me! You’re not the boss of Elise!”
Wise father that I am, I knew that Elise had heard this statement from her older siblings.
"You're not the boss of me!" is a
statement replete with sentiments of rights spurned and liberties
violated. It is a statement of a Coming
Revolution from an Oppressed Individual.
Perhaps
even as I was pruning my fruit trees, they too were crying out wordlessly with
my daughter, “You’re not the boss of me!”
It is often
true that this is a human response to others who speak truth into our lives. It would be a Sad State of Affairs if we were unable to receive
correction or outside input into our lives simply because we are too afraid of
giving up liberty.
There are
many reasons for us to allow ourselves to be bossed by other people. It may be better for our physical or
spiritual well-being. More than that, we
may simply bear more fruit.
What is a little startling for me: you likened "hearing from others" as a loss of liberty for self. And since I'm dealing with a situation now, this is enlightening for me. A loss of liberty. I would also say that it goes along with the modern mantra "Nobody Tells Me What To Do."
ReplyDeleteWhich is why Jesus says, over and over in Revelation 1-3 is "He who has an ear, let him hear."
This is the tragedy of our modern age and culture: people cannot hear. Even worse, they refuse to hear, because they fear that they will lose the Liberty of doing exactly as they please.