Short-Fall

Awoke with a dream which brought to my mind
A lesson I learned – that it's not always kind
To rush in and help when a person will fall –
Self-learning for some is the best route of all.

A scene in a film sums it up best for me –
They'd trapped Jean Val Jean, bound his leg, so not free;
He picked up a poker red-hot by the hearth,
Then held it on forearm and said something smart:

“There's nothing at all you can do now to me,
For here on the inside is where I am free;
So come on and take me, emotion's controlled
And fear does not own me – it's not that I'm bold”.

Like back in that springtime when father was ill,
That dream about feelings subsumed to one's will –
It's not we don't have them, there's plenty in me,
It's just they don't own me – like boy and the sea.

When rescue of person's agenda on tap,
We push down our feelings, step into the gap;
There's plenty of time to let feelings flow out,
But not facing danger – when that's what's about.

My instinct's to help – an encourager's tool –
But help in some contexts is playing the fool;
“I made you that way so you're freed for your task –
Encourager-giver, freed up for the blast.

“Identify blockage then blow it, my son;
Make process much better to increase the fun;
Tool making for workers with people all day;
Step in to help leaders when no other way.

“If you just encouraged, jumped into the fray
Who'd work on these tasks which before you I lay?
The people I send you, and groupings as well,
Need trips over cliff-face to learn from their hell.

“So carry on doing the tasks that I've given
To you, I'll protect them with others from heaven;
I've given resources and brought you along –
Withholding assistance is not always wrong.”

Lord, as I reflect on the people I love –
Acquaintances, neighbours, those friends from above –
It's not always easy to show Your restraint –
That lesson from Redvers – redeemed in the paint –

Of therapy group using art as the way
To deal with sub-conscious (called “right-brain” today)
For trauma it is to be Isaac laid out
As Abe raises knife – with Your angels about.

First time through that process, like old Jean Val Jean,
Is trauma that stretches us bigger than wrong;
But then down the road when we face it once more,
It's poker on forearm – “Can you do much more?”

For me that's the lesson recalled in my dream:
“Let go of assisting – that's more what I mean;
Keep on with your lifestyle – the Echo-land way,
And let others learn from their short-falls today.”

That sums up the process I use with some folks –
A page which I took from your “easier yoke”;
Remove the restrictions which face them today,
So they can take off, gain some airspeed that way.

Then when they encounter their wall just ahead,
The force of the impact alerts them instead
Of wimpy encounter which stalls in a swamp –
They know what is deepest – can't get what they want.

That opens their hearing to resource above,
So they can proceed with the task which they love;
Until they hit bottom or walls in their way
They think all there is they're unaware of today.

So name for the process emerges – a pun –
For “short fall” awaits at the end of their run;
And “short fall” won't hurt them, they'll learn there at last,
Resources from heaven make living a blast.

But “short-fall” describes what they're lacking today –
A clarified view of direction and way –
One's purpose in living clears way to proceed,
They gain high momentum – encounter their need.

Like Christ, I don't worry if they will have help;
They'll have the right question just after they yelp –
“Hey, how do I do this? I've not enough gas
To do what's important (clear for me at last).”

Until folks encounter a short-fall in life,
They plough on through good times and even some strife;
But when they've locked on to a purpose that's base,
It gets their attention when short-fall's case.

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