Odd Socks

ODD SOCKS

During an amusing twitter conversation about the number of Odd Socks that we all seem to have, mainly by pairs being disconnected during the laundry process, it struck me, that Odd Socks and being disconnected seems to be an anology for much in our life today.

And Odd Sock is alone, it’s isolated without its partner. It doesn’t know it’s alone, it doesn’t understand that it’s not a lot of use on its own, it’s redundant, useless without its pair. To me, it symbolizes the individualistic society we live in today. We want it all, but seem to believe that we can do it on our own strength and without any support or having to be part of any community. It leads back to a conversation going on at i-church over do you have to be part of a church to be a Christian.

Before I became a committed Christian, I was that Odd Sock! I was isolated in my Agnostic/Secular Ghetto, relying on my own ego and strength, and seemingly proud of my need not need a God, not to need any influence in my life, except my own self indulgent, selfish ego.

I had it all,I was in the Army, had been commissioned and promoted. It was a good job, successful and at a career pinacle. I had my spouse, who loves and supported me, despite my arrogance and ignorence, I had good family relationships and firm friends, who accepted me for who I was, and were never critical of what I did or didn’t believe. I now know that most, were, including my spouse, Christians, but not of the ‘in your face variety’. Life was good and I had still more to look forward to. Retirement, security, the prospect of a third career working part-time promised. What could possibly go wrong?

Proverbs 16:18 tells us that “Pride goes before a Haughty Spirit and a Haughty Spirit before destruction” (NIV).

The thing that went wrong was that Proverb 16:18 smacked me squarely in the face. Given the task of helping the family of a fatal casualty from Afghanistan, I suddenly found that relying on your own strength only goes so far. Trauma and grief as well as having a tremendous impact on those bereaved, can also extend its reach to those supporting those in that position. I had no instinctive moral or spiritual support available, my pride and arrogance were suddenly of no use. I was the useless Odd Sock, without a partner, alone, isolated, not coping and in danger of being unable to function in the vital role that I had been given for the family. The instinctive and spiritual partner that was the other sock was missing.

Marvel of marvels, those missing ingredients were given to me, not by a counselor or by a sudden realisation that I could cope, but by the direct intervention of Jesus Christ in my life when at a low point, when I was desperate and receptive he spoke directly into my life saying “I’m here - let me in”. I just seemed to know that it was him. Who else can whisper into your life, convince you at a stroke that he is love and he is here ready to carry you, to allow you to lean on him on the way. Instinctively, I said yes and was immediately filled with a sense of peace. There is a witness to all of this, who was alongside me, a Padre and Priest who was helping the family, but also, unkowingly, being in the right place at the right time to help me.

The outcome of this direct experience of Jesus intervening in my life was that I was able to carry on supporting the bereaved family through the whole process, but even more importantly, to know that my life previously had been one of selfish self indulgence and that I became a committed Christian, a disciple and someone who was reunited with the other sock, which had never been far away, just waiting to be reunited. Praise be to God.