Security

Those of you who know me know that I have three favorite childhood cartoon characters, Curious George, Care Bears, and Peanuts. If you are friends with me on Facebook, I know you have noticed that I have been posting Peanuts Characters a lot lately. I find the innocence rather refreshing. Nevertheless, I still feel sorry for poor Charlie Brown. He’s not a blockhead. He’s just misunderstood. I watched the Valentine specials and WOW that poor guy. I just wanted to reach through the screen and give him a Valentine. However, it isn’t good old Chuck that I am focused on right now. It is that smart little boy named Linus. What an interesting character. So intelligent yet can’t be one minute without his trusty blanket. That security he receives from it cannot be found with anything or anyone else.

My son Nicholas was a lot like that when he was a little guy. He and his blanket were inseparable. Someone even said, “Is he going to attend school carrying a blanket?” I responded with “He is not in school yet so we don’t have to worry about it right now. Let him have his blanket and be a kid just a bit longer!” However, washing that blanket was a BIG ordeal. I would have to try hard to convince him that it was time to wash the precious piece of material. OH the tears would start. While in the washing machine, Nicholas would wander around the apartment asking over and over again “Banky done yet, banky done yet” while his voice quivered.  To which I would reply, “No son, your blanky is not done yet.” I would have to explain to him that I was going to the laundry room to put it in the dryer. So while in the dryer, again my precious baby boy was wondering around the apartment, in tears this time, “Banky dye yet, banky dye yet?” My heart breaking, I would have to explain once again that it was not ready yet. OH THE JOY in my little boy when that soft warm blanket came out of that dryer and was once again wrapped in his arms as he hugged it. He was reunited with his security. All was right with the world again.  

“I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith.” ~ Philippians 3:7-9

I want to ask you what you find as your security item that you hold tightly to. There are so many things in this life that we hold on to because it makes us feel good. It has become our security blanket that we cannot go without. Matter of fact, we are lost when we are not able to be with that thing. It could be a physical item, an act, a place or even a person. We are no longer little children who need to carry around the security of this world. We have grown up!

My challenge to you… As you go through your day, I would like you to take note as to what you lean on for security. When you have had a bad day and everything seems to have gone wrong, what is it that you do to find that calm at the end of the day? Have you clung a little too tightly to “security” here that you have forgotten that God has called you to be one with him? He is our ultimate security. Let him wrap around you as you hug him and the joy fill your body like Nicholas did when he was reunited with his “banky!”