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The Escalator

The Escalator

Wednesday, December 20, 2017

We may be going in the wrong direction on the Escalator of Life.

I was walking with two of my friend’s children, Maddy and Ben. Ben is two years old and Maddy is four. Both Ben and Maddy enjoy riding up and down the escalator. We had just ridden up the first escalator (Maddy doing it by herself) and now we were walking toward the down escalator. I was standing right behind Maddy while I held Ben’s hand, watching both of them as we stepped onto the escalator.

As she stepped onto the escalator Maddy had difficulty keeping her balance this time, and while completely losing her footing started to fall. I immediately grabbed her upper arm and prevented her from falling. Because I was still holding Ben with my other hand, I had to hold onto Maddy’s arm tightly in order to keep the escalator from pulling her down head first.

Maddy became upset. Assuming nothing I asked her why. It was not because she had lost her balance and fallen, and not because she was going to fall head first down the escalator, but because I had hurt her arm by grabbing it. Maddy did not know or understand that if I had not done what I did, she would have incurred at the very least, severe injury and possibly death.

Maddy did not know or understand that I had saved her life and protected her from much greater suffering and harm than simply having her upper arm squeezed too tightly for a moment. The temporary physical discomfort Maddy felt, was good and necessary in order for Maddy to be saved from very serious injury. Maddy failed to be grateful for the suffering that protected her from even greater and possibly permanent suffering.

Most of the time we are just like four year old Maddy in relationship to Jesus Christ. We, as adults, are usually no more higher functioning than a four year old. And unfortunately, just because we call ourselves “adults” we think we are. We fail to be grateful and thankful to God for the emotional and/or physical suffering (warnings, signals, consequences, lessons) we are frequently choosing ourselves, that are protecting us from choosing even greater serious injury physically and even more importantly spiritually. Jesus is always protecting us from greater harm both spiritually and physically that we are about to choose to do to ourselves either in the near or distant future. We frequently fail to recognize and fail to appreciate this fact.

Any time we feel “harmed”, or we don’t get our way, this is either Jesus protecting us from even greater consequences due to our sinful choices, Jesus trying to teach us not to make the same sinful choice again, or Jesus protecting us from the sinful choices of others. Any time we fail to obey Jesus’ Will in any way and in any moment it is a sin, whether we think we are obeying Jesus or not. And something may not be Jesus’ Will, simply because it is the wrong time. Only Jesus knows the right timing.

We frequently get upset with and blame others, Jesus, the devil when we simply fail to SEE and KNOW Truth and the entire picture of what would happen if we kept going in that way, or if we got our way, at that time. We may be going in the wrong direction on the Escalators of Life. There are many escalators going in many different directions in our lives. We may have gotten onto the escalator going in the wrong direction. We may be trying to step onto a particular escalator at the wrong time.

Just like Maddy, we may be heading down the escalator head first, either ignorantly and unknowingly like Maddy, or on purpose and knowingly. We may have failed to be properly prepared to take the first step onto an escalator. There is a right way and a wrong way; a right time and a wrong time, to get on and off an escalator. If your timing is off, then you will lose your balance and fall. We need to keep both our physical balance and our spiritual balance.

Either way, it is always our free will to choose to prepare or fail to prepare ourselves to get onto an escalator. It is always our free will to choose to take that first step onto the escalator at the wrong or right time. It is always our free will to choose to get onto the right or wrong escalator.  It is always our free will to choose to go in the right or wrong direction.

Jesus Loves us so much that He is going to do what He knows is best to try and help us either stop harming ourselves and/or prevent harming ourselves even more. Jesus wants us to take the escalator going up toward Him, and He always wants us to ask for His help to do so to make it easier on us. If we try to prepare, step on, and ride the Escalators of Life by ourselves, we will lose our footing and fall. And we may lose our footing and fall anyway because we are imperfect, but with Jesus’ help we will be able to quickly get back up again.

Never assume that you are properly prepared to step onto life’s escalators. Never assume that you’ve gotten onto the escalator at the right time. Never assume that you are on the right escalator, going in the right direction. Ask Jesus to show you His Way in how He wants you to be preparing; what He wants you to be choosing; and when He wants you to be choosing it, in every step and on every escalator throughout your Life.

We need NEVER be afraid if we are with Jesus and holding Jesus’ hand while we prepare to choose, step onto, and ride “life’s escalators”. Jesus will either protect us from falling or He will protect our fall from being even more painful and damaging than it could have been, like I did for Maddy. Jesus will also help us get onto the right “escalator” moving in the right direction to be completely united with Him in Peace, Contentment and Fulfillment both now and for eternity.

© Copyright 2010, L K Miller, LPC

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