I cleaned out a cupboard the other day and came across a note pad. It had been one of my husband’s and the letterhead stated where he had last worked. It’s the little things that just flatten you sometimes and there I was again with my stomach tightening and my eyes filling with tears. Does mourning never cease?
Anyway, I gave it to daughter Lyn. At first she didn’t want to use it and then said “Well, he is gone now and I guess we shouldn’t make an idol out of him.”
It made me search my own heart to ensure that I was NOT making an idol out of him. Memories are a gift of God but idol making is a gift of Satan.
I still have pictures of “Freckles”, the spaniel that brought so much joy to the family and a rash of allergies that resulted in us giving him away. But, he was not made into an idol…just a happy-sad memory.
My husband’s face smiles at me from my computer stand and also in other places in the house, sometimes I even forget it is there but when I do look up and see it, his smile lifts my heart. But an idol he is not. There is no shrine here, just a photo of a kind and loving husband and the blessing of over 50 years together.
It made me think about other things that can so easily take over your life and become the end-all of your days. I see the fanatical state of some whose whole life is sports, or theatre, music, cars, jobs, etc. etc. I have a weakness for books myself but my eyes have said “enough is enough” and I limit my reading now.
Men’s lives have been destroyed by being fanatical about their work and women have often been fanatical about their children…(reverse those roles if what I say bothers you).
Fanaticism creates idols that sometimes we don’t even recognize. I have seen fanaticism in the church too…sometimes doing more damage than good.
The dictionary states fanaticism is frenzied zeal and frenzy is temporary insanity…not the kind of adjectives I’d want describing my relationship with the Lord or with any activity.
But my relationship with Him does results in worship. How can I not worship my Creator and Father, who daily guides and watches over me and this is a relationship that nothing can separate us from…neither life nor death, nor angels or archangels. This God is one of love, not of stone or wood and this God loves me back…how wonderful is that!
Photo by Caleb Roenigk via Flickr, CC 2.0.
