January 15 – “War Zone”

My desk was in the middle of a war zone for awhile yesterday.  But at least they asked permission for entry before bombardments began.  We had Cailyn while Nathan was at work and April helped care for her grandfather.  Then Jachin, Micah and Josiah came over so their parents could go to a movie.  That's when the planning for the battle began.  Jachin had an entire scenario worked out in his mind.  He's the one who came in and asked in his most official-sounding voice if it would be "OK if a battle took place in here."  I agreed, with the stipulation that no bombardments be directly targeted at me or my immediate environs.  I didn't actually say that. He is after all only 6 years old.  But he did promise not to mess anything up permanently anywhere around me.  Translates to about the same thing.   Before I knew it, there were entire walls built around the room out of pillows.  The soldiers went to sleep on the floor for a brief respite before the battle.  I received a warning, "You might want to clear the area before the war starts."  Sounded ominous.  Josiah entered the war zone doing his patented belly crawl push with his right great toe, and he was immediately promoted to junior captain.  It took awhile, but I finally figured out that Cailyn was to be the enemy.  She didn't know it, though.  All she knew was she didn't want to change her diaper any time soon.  Her cousins were here and she wanted to play with them.  It was amazing to watch how Jachin and Micah incorporated Cailyn's reluctance and even Josiah's unexpected incursion into the area.    Kind of reminded me of spiritual warfare.  There we are walking around concerned about our diaper or losing playing time or a myriad of other things that seem important to us, when actually there is a serious spiritual battle taking place all around us.   Matthew 12:43-45 says, "When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it.  Then it says, 'I will return to the house I left.' When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order.  Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation."   Father, help me remember there's a lot going on besides what I can see.  Amen.