All in all, better off than the donkey, though...

"we circled round"

Acts 28:13

I had a migraine headache the other day.   I don't have those very often, but when they do, my trademark is impaired vision and vertigo.  I get those symptoms even before the pain starts.  It usually responds well to pain relievers, but until they kick in, I'm blind and dizzy.  And fairly miserable. 

And for some reason, I started thinking about that old children's party game, Pin the Tail on the Donkey.  Which, now that I think about it, is an odd game.... Why a donkey?  How was he mutilated?  Veterinary surgery, as a child's game?  Odd....

Anyhow, remember when you played Pin the Tail on the Donkey when you were a child?  Blindfolded, right?  And then, as if that didn't make it hard enough to pin the tail on said donkey, you were spun around.  And around and around.

After you were spun in a circle, someone stopped you from spinning, and gave you a push in the general direction of the donkey, and then you had to move forward with the tail outstretched, and hope for the best.

But sometimes I think we have that feeling, and it's not because we're at a child's birthday party, and it's not because of a terrible headache.  Sometimes we feel that way because.... well, because life sometimes feels that way.

Do you know that feeling?   In your career, in your education, in your family?  In any decision that's bigger than you are? 

When I am feeling blind and confused, I think the last thing I should do, is head off in the direction of my goal.  That's me, aiming for what I think I want.  But what I need to do, is stay close to the One who helps the blind to see.  The One who stops the spinning by giving us the wisdom we need.

But here's the trick:  realizing the choice we have to make.  Because once the spinning has stopped, we have a tendency to head off again, unaware of how blind we are without Him.  I have felt, sometimes, that I'm glad He stopped the spinning, but I still don't know what to do or where to go.

We sing a song in church sometimes called "Came to My Rescue" and there's a line that says "You came to my rescue and I wanna be where You are".  The last time I sang that line, I thought, "He rescued me ~ why would I want to be anywhere else?"

Whether you know it or not; whether you can feel it or not ~ without Him, you are blind and disoriented.  Be where He is.

"Jesus said to the twelve, 

'Do you also want to go away?' 

But Simon Peter answered Him, 

'Lord, to whom shall we go?

  You have the words of eternal life.' "

John 6:67-68