THE
T.A.R.D.I.S. EFFECT
Wow! It’s Soooo much bigger in here!
You must surely all be acquainted with the TARDIS from Dr Who
(BBC series). If I remember correctly – or even at all –
it meant Time and Relative Dimension in Space.
Well perhaps we ought to pinch the idea, and rename it T.A.R.D.I.C.
–Time and Relative Dimension in Christ!
If you were present at my baptism in November, you may recall
me saying, that I used to consider myself broadminded, as regards
the world in general, but that was nothing compared to the growth
and expansion I have experienced in Christ! And STILL it goes
on! You think you’ve ‘got there’, then ‘wow!’,
off we go again on a new adventure! There’s no stopping
this God!
One Thursday morning – actually, about 1a.m. – I
was awoken by my husband’s loud snoring, continuously, despite
poking, prodding and complaining. On and on it went, until I eventually
moved to the spare room, where I could still hear it, but it wasn’t
quite so obtrusive!
Of course, I noticed that I was more than slightly irritated
by this inconvenience, and recalled the time, not so long ago,
when this would have been just one of a list of complaints against
him. Yes, my list then was so long, I really couldn’t carry
it around with me, but of course, I did, reminding myself, (and
him), constantly of what seemed to be missing from our relationship.
However, I’d been down this road before, and Jesus had
long since taken away my list, and shown me that a good marriage
doesn’t succeed or fail according to the number of points
one can clock up! A good marriage has a much broader base –
but, now, that’s a whole topic in itself!
Anyway, I lay there, trying to sleep, smiling to myself about
how much I had learned, but being unable to settle. Then the thoughts
started to arrive, one by one, then in quick succession, or even
all mixed up. God was asking me to listen, and sort them all out.
There was lots of stuff in there, from how to react to a new person
at the office, possible outreach to schools, the idea for this
story – yes, ‘Tardis’ just came along with everything
else – to the realisation that the twists and turns of my
life had just illustrated a passage in the Bible, which I hadn’t
fully grasped before.
I had started reading the Old Testament last summer, and at
the time of writing, I had just finished 2 Samuel. Now, I have
the NLT study Bible. Sometimes I read the study notes, and sometimes
I just read the script. In 2 Samuel 24, God caused David to act
wrongly by taking a census. The study notes explain that although
the text seems to suggest that God caused David to sin, in fact,
what He was doing, was allowing an incorrect natural inclination
to come to the surface, so that He could deal with it in such
a way, that David would recognise it as a fault, which was being
disciplined.
The light dawned anew! My long history of relationship problems
had taken me, through much distress, almost back to where I had
started, but now I had a different perspective. God had allowed
the sins to continue and multiply almost to breaking point, to
show me that there was nowhere to go with those ideas –
they were non-starters – and now He was showing me again
that the only answer lay in Him. My faults, no doubt, had been
many, and the distress itself was discipline enough.
The realisation that God can show you a different way of looking
at things – a much bigger picture – makes ‘nit
picking’ a thing of the past! Even what seem to be serious
problems, just pale into insignificance when Jesus takes your
hand.
One might think – “ If only I’d known all
this then; if only I’d been ‘in Christ’ sooner,
then I wouldn’t have had to go through all that”,
but then, I think a whole period of massive personal growth just
wouldn’t have happened, and those people whose boat I rocked,
almost to sinking point, would have carried on blindly as before.
Now, at least, they too have some ‘growth’ questions
before them.
We touch each other’s lives in different ways, sometimes
imperceptibly. Let our attitudes and actions be as God’s.
Strive to push out, or even break down the artificial boundaries
and standards we have all created in our lives.
Nothing beats this limitless feeling of being ‘in Christ’
– there are no words to express it adequately.
19/11/05
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