A Boy Wielding His Sword

Last week a friend of mine got me to play catch-up to BBC2 historical drama  ‘The Last Kingdom‘. Set in the year 872 where the separate kingdoms, now known as England, had fallen to the invading Danes. This had left the great kingdom of Wessex standing alone and defiant. A Saxon man, Uhtred, is captured as a slave and raised by the Danes. He must now choose a side and play his part in the birth of a nation, alongside King Alfred the Great. Please forgive me as my history is a little rough on the edges.

As soon as I saw the opening credits for episode one I automatically wanted to switch it over as it is not my viewing taste but I was caught by a dominant image that has stained my mind and provoked my blog post today.

In the first battle scene as the Danes are conquering, Uhtred who is only aged 10 at the time, picks up his sword and shield to fight. When watching it I cringed and thought to myself “what is he doing?” as I knew he did not stand a chance. He was untrained not only physically but also emotionally and mentally. This young boy was not ready for war or his purpose at this moment in life.

My provoked thought just from this scene was; What are the dangers of a boy nature in a man’s body? Please do not get caught up on the wording of this sentence, gender plays no connotation as I am referring to maturity but figuratively in the visuals of a man and boy.

When soldiers go to war, men are sent. Gideon’s army was narrowed down to 300 men (Judges 7). Intensive training and regimes are undergone when training for war. You are prepared mentally, physically and emotionally in order to face war. You go in a boy and come out a man, as they say. Every part of you is stripped, your boy nature is broken down. It is broken as this immature nature cannot carry you through a war, it will only let you go so far.

Outside of physical war, we all as a people need to be trained. The boy nature within us all exists. The nature that wants no responsibility and little accountability but thinks it is ready for anything. If your boy nature is stronger than your man nature then there is a problem.

Uhtred, even though a slave to the Danes, was eventually taken on as a son by them in the programme and trained to be a fighter. They taught him how to fight strategically and wield his sword. The problem we can have as people are that we let our boy nature wield our lives. Immaturity masks maturity.

The problem with a boy nature is that after it has had its satisfaction met, it leaves behind a mess. The mess can be very damaging not only to the situation it was involved in but also the others involved or around it. It leaves wounds and scars because of the refusal to grow up and deal with a situation properly.

1 Corinthians 13:11 says ‘When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things’ (New Living Translation).

If we stay as a child, we will reap the benefits of a child. We must learn to reign in our boy natures. We cannot let our boy nature control our lives as it will cost us in the long run.

Before a soldier is sent, his training must first be completed and completed to the required standard. We cannot win life with a boy nature, only the growing of maturity will cause us to rise in life.

Think about your life and where you can identify this boy nature. Be encouraged to work on changing this nature before this nature completely changes you.

 

A Written Wilderness

Writing is my inner design. I make words dance on paper with my pen. Their structures form like an unborn child taking shape in the womb. I scribe the letters of the soul and resurrect a story’s voice. Ink just flows from me, it runs through my veins as it knows every part of my vessel.

I can write all day. Emotions become transparent water, the hearts thoughts and motives unveil their true value and the adventure of life begins to unfold before the eyes of the very one reading the script. Writing is not just words, it is HEART.

I write simply because I want to write, it is natural to me. I open the textbook of my heart and flick through the spectacles of its dynamic pages. I am like a kid in a candy store, there is so much to see and choose from but you cannot have everything because it will make you sick. Writing is the same for me. I have floods of ideas that run into an ocean as wide as the Pacific but filtering them down stream is a much more mammoth task.

The world of writing is new to me. Reaching into unknown territory through layering research that some of the world of journalism has not exposed to me has been quite eye consuming. I did not know that there was so much involved. Looking at different types and styles of writing, familiarising myself with writing legends and jobs within writing has been mind trafficking, and that is not covering everything. The realisation of truth when crossing the borders of part of an unfamiliar land can be quite scary but rewarding once momentum has kicked in and the race has begun.

I am concluding that no matter the quantity of your head knowledge or having another tell you of your true potential, it is up to you to tap into your internal nature. As I said in my opening sentence ” writing is my inner design”, I still have to get to grips with the DNA of my writing. I believe and know that God has gifted me with writing but unlocking its totality is my written wilderness.

Wilderness can be denoted as a negative term. We associate it with dry, hot, over-exposed, unbearable and endless pain but we forget that the most important part of any wilderness is the JOURNEY. If we equate wilderness to the realms of a person finding themselves or digging deeper to pull something out of them that is hidden, then wilderness can take on a whole new meaning. We forget that we can still LIVE if we know how.

When I refer to a ‘written wilderness’ I am speaking of the wild, uncultivated writer within me that is yet to take on its full form. This is the part of myself with a gifting that needs to be worked on. You do not just form a new habit in two days, it takes one month to generate as part of a renewal process. It takes time.

 

My point is that I have a journalistic background which helps give me some foundations within writing but my written wilderness will be one of my biggest adventures of unmasking for myself. To live daily, unlocking my writing and where it will take me will be one of the hardest but greatest testimony’s of all time. Bettering my English, expanding my reading catalogue, learning and teaching this to others and many other duties are just a few stepping stones in an estuary. This is one of the greatest times of my life.

Help, advice, tips and wisdom are ALWAYS welcome. I write with the aim of bringing change to people’s lives by giving them a eye check-up through my writing. I must now look into doing this for myself internally,  riding the waves of my own mind. Let the path of excitement unroll.

A-Lone

Image courtesy of Lauraocta

“I ain’t got no people. I seen the guys that go around on the ranches alone. That ain’t no good. They don’t have no fun. After a long time they get mean. They get wantin’ to fight all the time. . . ‘Course Lennie’s a God damn nuisance most of the time, but you get used to goin’ around with a guy an’ you can’t get rid of him” (45).

George from ‘Of Mice & Men’

Author John Steinbeck wrote a book titled ‘Of Mice & Men’. The book tells the story of George Milton & Lennie Small; two migrant ranch workers  in search of jobs during the time of the Great Depression in the USA. Lennie is mentally disabled and George is his guardian and best friend. The novel walks us though their remarkable journey, tested friendship and the lives of the men they encountered. A theme that is high lighted throughout the whole novel is LONELINESS.

Crooks from Of Mice & Men

“S’pose you didn’t have nobody. S’pose you couldn’t go into the bunk house and play rummy ’cause you was black. How’d you like that? S’pose you had to sit out here an’ read books. Sure you could play horseshoes till it got dark, but then you got to read books. Books ain’t no good. A guy needs somebody-to be near him. A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody. Don’t make no difference who the guy is, long’s he’s with you. I tell ya, I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an’ he gets sick” (80)- Crooks

Loneliness is amongst one of the worst experiences and emotions a human can feel, go through or deal with. The word lonely by dictionary definition includes some very interesting meanings; some including destitute of sympathetic or friendly companionship, solitary and the being controlled in various ways causing a depressing feeling of being alone. Alone is defined as being separate or isolated from others, a part from them.The notion of FEELING (emotion) takes over. At some point in life people are lonely; it’s human nature but the problem comes when a person stays or chooses to be alone.

We can’t choose the hand that life deals us. Sometimes loneliness is only for a season but sometimes people have it for a lifetime depending on situations and circumstances. Loneliness can be in a variety of different ways; physically, mentally and even spiritually. What I love about John Steinbeck was his great insight into loneliness, highlighting the fact that you can be lonely even if you are are with someone. Loneliness is not always good, having absolutely no one is not good but then you can have someone and still be lonely; George in the example from Of Mice & Men.

But what does our mind say? Can our mind lock us in our own cage or does it give us freedom whether lonely or not, to keep living life?

I love this scripture;

⁵Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; (2 Corinthians 10:5 King James Version).

Everything that is not good for me and rises above what God says has to be brought down and into allignment with God and His Word. But what about those who don’t believe in God? What about those who don’t follow religion? What are they to do or do my beliefs now become a set of super-imposed morals upon those who don’t believe?

Casting down or telling something to bow down is not an easy thing to do in a society where freedom is much promoted. Freedom to speak (even if what is spoken doesn’t help at all), agree with things that really hold no ground, etc. How do we tell our minds what is real rather than accept an overpowering emotion?

Our mind is a core and essential part of our living. Everything we think affects us, affects who we are and what we can become. If I tell you you’re a master chef enough times, if you believe and receive what I say you will look to becoming it. If I tell you you’re dumb all the time, you’ll start acting and becoming what I call you if you have believed and received what I said about you. So can the same apply for when I am lonely? Yes I may be physically lonely but is there no opportunity at all?

Challenge your mental thoughts on loneliness. Yes you may be lonely but you are NEVER alone, there’s always an opportunity for something better regardless of who you are.