The Curse Of The Dragon Sickness

The Curse Of The Dragon Sickness

James 1:1-11

Allow me to take you back to the first time you saw The Hobbit: Battle Of The Five Armies…there is a series of scenes that take place surrounding a dragon, gold and a man watching from the outside as this sickness takes over. 

It doesn’t stop with the dragon, it pulls in his friends too. See that’s the thing about evil. It doesn’t stop with one of us...eventually it will take us all if we allow it.  

As the scenes unfold you see the poor, hungry, tired and cold of being tired poor and hungry and cold villagers struggling against day to day life knowing there has to be something better. The past stories of those that remember the better times and their faith says so.  In the movie, Bilbo and Thorn along with their ragtag party finally get to go into the Dwarf Fortress that’s built underground and within the halls are immense amounts of gold, in some places so high you’d be buried by it. Moving from one hall to another it seems to never end. In the middle of all of this there is a dragon that is protecting it…but not just protecting it...hoarding it.  Because you see he has what everyone needs, but refuses to give it to help them. 

As Thorn stays in the Fortress the sickness begins to overtake him. Being in the middle of all of it, he can’t see it can’t feel it and doesn’t realize even what’s happening to him. He just knows that someone, anyone is trying to take what he views as his…the gold.

Bilbo knows something is wrong. It has to be. This isn’t the same friend that he came with and has been with all this time. This is someone else…Thankfully he comes to his senses later but it takes the work of his friends and a bit of faith to make it happen.  

What happens when the same thing happens to us with our spiritual gifts? Maybe we are just too tired…maybe we just don’t feel like it.  Maybe we are just too busy…wait too busy to help someone in need? That doesn’t sound like we’re using our gifts to help others…sounds like we’re hoarding them and keeping them all to ourselves maybe to use later maybe not.  

What happens to that gift of hospitality that never gets used because you’re too tired or just too busy? Are we really too busy to make sure our fellow man is being helped by someone, anyone? Maybe it's taking blankets down to a homeless shelter, maybe its keeping bottled water and snack packs in your car for the one on the corner that needs it. Could even be something as simple as a “we’re praying for you, although we don’t have anything to give…we do see you and you are important enough to still be looked in the eye and acknowledged”.  

There will never be another Mother Theresa but we all have something we can offer to our fellow man, even just praying for them. And by not doing anything, we’re no better than the dragon sitting on his gold stash. 

I Shall Not Want...A Reflection On An Early Morning

I'm up.

And not happy about it.

I've been dealing with back pain sense I *decided* it would be a great idea to put up the chickens in not safe shoes and on fresh snow/quickly turning to ice.

On Christmas Eve

Although it's getting better (way too slowly in my opinion) sometimes I still deal with the occasional shooting pain down my spine and into my hips.

At least that was the original reason I was up at a little before midnight.

Now?

My brain can't/won't shut off.

A million things run like a marathon into my brain and hibernate for a few minutes and then leave only to be replaced by something else that I can/have to worry about.

Someone once told me if you're up and it's an odd hour God might be nudging you to pray for someone.

Okay Lord....I gotcha loud and clear

I go down the list and start praying; some I know the reasons, others only God does.  But I know He hears my prayers on their behalf,

A Psalm is brought to mind...23,,,a well known one to many..

and a line gets stuck in my head...

"I shall not want"

Beyond anything else that anyone is facing, if we are of Him than we shall not want

So thankful I was able to be open to listening to what He has to tell me and while praying for others be ministered to as well.