Fences

I was sitting at the verandah of the house at Corindi Beach just looking at the houses at the back of the property.  Each house has a fence or some sort of a border around it.  It’s strange that I suddenly felt that this whole world is restricting.  I then remembered what a good friend of mine had once said…the systems that we created in this world and for the inhabitants of this world are senseless and sometimes pointless.  I didn't understand what he had said then but now I think I do. 

The universe above is expansive, borderless and seemingly infinite and here I am wondering how on earth did we ever get to this point that we had to put fences around our houses, pay someone for a piece of land that could never be truly yours (because we all die and the minerals underneath belongs to the government), and worked on average 30 years of your life paying for a small piece of land and a piece of cardboard plonked on it.  We succumbed into this earthly system duped into thinking that we are doing something for eternity when you can't predict tomorrow.  I then started looking at my own life, how hard I have worked in order to provide to the detriment of my own relationships.  I now look at this world differently, the material now seemed pointless.  The true beauty that of this world is what the Creator has given everyone for free: the white mountain peaks, the blue green ocean, the milky lakes, the northern and southern lights, the red monolith, the rainbows, the orange sunrise, the lush grass, the energy of the cascading falls, the fruits from the trees, the flower blossoms, the laughter of the child, the hugs and cuddles, the time spent with someone special, the death of JC on the cross…they are priceless and they are for free.  And yet we have deceived ourselves that we could buy happiness from the temporal things of this world.

I remember what Uncle Bob Randall had mentioned in the video ‘Kanyini’ - the land that we walk on is free, it belongs to everyone.  We share from its’ produce, we look after it by letting it rest to give it time to replenish itself then we come back to it and enjoy what it freely gives us.  We don’t take everything but only what we need. 

Looking around me, the fences tells me that this is my property, I will share it if I want to but warn people to keep off it.  The boundaries are made to repel others.  It’s my little piece of paradise or is it?  It’s actually my little piece of liability just to make my life miserable that I have to work hard all my life to pay for and then subject the next generation to pay for my debt should I die suddenly without an insurance.  Oh, the insurance is not free.  People work so hard that they couldn’t enjoy spending time with their children.  I have spent most of my time working for what isn’t free instead of being with my girls and enjoy the beauty of this world that are given for free.  I have subjected myself to a rotten system.

The system tells us this is what it should be so we put on a mask, a façade, a monkey suit and act the role that the system had set.  We become professional actors.  Some have immersed themselves in the role and had made it their identity, losing who they really are.  And most of us have surrendered to that system, giving it permission to mould us and direct us.  Some of us do not know any other way and although some may do, their choice is restricted by yet another system.  Those who are wiser have use the system to work for them and they are rewarded, some move on and succumbed themselves to another.  We are stuck except for those little choices that we could make.  And some of those little choices have spelt for us a whole heap of trouble because we have pushed the boundaries – we have moved the system’s fence.

So much of what is in this world is the antithesis of who God is:  His infinite and borderless love.  The love that knows no fence, no limits, the love that does not repel but invites.  The love that draws people - any person, any race, any colour, the good and the bad for He makes the sun shines on both.  The love that gives, that forgives, that heals.  The love that says His mercies are new every morning.  The love that extends from east to the west.  The love that starts each day that says ‘I am your Bright Morning Star’ and ends with ‘I am the Southern Cross Star next to you’.  JC lived a simple life and that is exactly what I want to do.