Shrapnel

I had always known that if I walk with fools I will grow more and more foolish, and the opposite is true as well. If I hang out with people who, for example, love marriage, I will love marriage: in other words I will be more wise. Obviously, I act foolishly at times and always had an implicit assumption that if people saw me acting wisely and communicating wisdom then they would be all right. They would be walking with a wise person and growing more and more wise. Leave it to the Spirit to put that little deception to rest.

Two Sundays ago I was introduced to the principle of the shrapnel of the fool. Obviously, the most forceful and deadly part of an explosion it at the center of it. This is the most obvious part of it as well and can be heard for miles and miles. But then there is the shrapnel - those bits of the bomb or the structures in its way that fly from the center. The shrapnel is survivable, but it maims and can kill as well. So, if people are not encouraged into foolishness directly by me, or directly observe my foolish behavior, there is still an effect that I can have on them.

There are certain attitudes, facial expressions, modes of acting that are a result of foolish thinking and behavior. This is the shrapnel that effects the people around me. If my heart is far from God, God is not going to be manifest through the physical evidence  of the fruit of the Spirit in my life. When my family needs peace they will receive conflict. When my family requires joy they will see hopelessness and depression. When they need patience they will get a short retort or a hand slamming the table in an expression of anger and disgust.

This is the shrapnel of the foolish behavior that seems to be more and more of my life lately. This is the need, daily, for salvation. This is the filth that I long to shed. This is the stuff of my longing for heaven.