My friend and I peel back the plastic wrap from her Pasta Shrimp Salad and put the final touches on the table. Crusty bread, butter on a pretty dish, and dessert waiting on the side – fresh berries and whipped cream. Nothing elaborate except the love expressed in the doing.
Five of us for lunch, one facing a difficult crisis. others circling around the one who is wounded.
How do you say, “I love you; I’m here for you and I’ll walk through this with you,” any better than just gathering to show solidarity and offer hope for better days?
In the frozen tundra of the north, the musk ox demonstrates the power of circling for protection in a way that is unforgettable. Massive animals that weigh up to 800 lbs., you wouldn’t imagine they have many enemies.
While wolves don’t attack them head on, they do charge the pack, hoping the panic will cause a calf to be separated from the herd; then they attack the calf. The weak, defenseless, scared one.
Satan uses this same strategy. Often when we’re hurting or scared or even when we’ve sinned, we want to pull back, isolate, get in a hole somewhere. But when we do, we become a target and our enemy seeks to eat us alive.
Watch how the musk ox take care of their problem. And then ask yourself, Might I be willing to do that for someone, to keep the enemy at bay when things get a bit gnarly?
Musk ox and wolves. (Sorry about the ad!)
Pretty cool, huh? They just form a circle, facing outward, and put the weak one in the middle. The wolves slink away. They’re no match for 10,0000 lbs. of hoof and horn.
We eat our shrimp salad and French bread and talk and laugh. It is good to be together—with people who care, who sacrifice their time to reassure and say, “Not only is he with you, but we are too.”
At the end we form a circle of prayer and each one prays – for everyone involved, for healing of hearts, for a new path. We are musk ox around our calf. As the prayers and tears come, I can feel the wolf draw back. He knows when he’s outnumbered.
Five praying women are an army of impenetrable strength. And as my pastor said a few months ago, you’re either the army, or you’re the target.
Today five beautiful friends joined to form a circle of love. There’s just something about those circles…
You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble
and circle me with songs of deliverance.
Psalm 32:7 Free Translation
Very powerful call to the safety of encircling prayer!
YOU are that kind of friend to me!
Then I am rich.
Strong picture, strong love. No matter how strong we think we are, we so need one another. Community. That is where it is at.
And oh the stories we have to tell about community – the very beauty of it!
I have just been the recipient of this sort of prayer and circling. The miracles that came are what God loves to do, to bless the righteous when we pray in his will. I think He reserves certain acts of His power for the things we are really willing to pray for. James 5:16 The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
Ok now that I have stopped crying long enough to type. I love you, you have become very important to me. 🙂
Ha! Glad to know I made the cut!
Thank you so much for writing blogs so touching, and to personally know you,Bob and the family has enriched our lives,We thank God for our relationship with yall
And for us too, Sammy! Love you guys to the moon and back.
This is truly a beautiful thing. Let nature teach us the lessons of life. Glad to be connected to you.
Bob
Connected heart and soul, forever and ever!
I pray I can be a Musk Ox to others as they have been to me. Our CIRCLES of community are so important. Even though we live so far apart I feel your blog-circle around me as you write. Oh the joy of community surrounding each one of us as we “encircle” each other in prayer.