Massage Chair Theology

Today was extremely fun; I went to four graduation parties, and had a fabulous time at each one! Each party had special, unique qualities which made it particularly enjoyable.

It was at the final party of the day that I had an "a-ha!" moment.

Well, at this party, I was chillin' with some girls and a guy; talking, laughing, eating sugar...how parties usually go. Well, the girl who hosted the party had this massage-chair in the corner of the living room. This massage chair was intense. It would squeeze one's legs, arms, and head; it would roll up and down one's back; it would lift one's legs up in the air, lean the person back, and put them upright again. Like I said, this massage chair was intense!

At the beginning, this chair could be uncomfortable. It could even hurt a little (depending on the person, and how much he or she resisted to the chair). In fact, it was very entertaining to watch whoever was in the chair react to the movements. The facial expressions and exclamations were hilarious! Well anyway, while one of the girls was in the chair grimacing about the discomfort, the guy who was with us said something which really struck me: "It's not that bad--just let it go." Later, when I got in the chair again, I decided to try his advice. The chair was put onto "Swedish" mode. Watching a couple of the other girls go through this mode, I knew that it would be particularly intense. But I thought about the advice that had been given. I sat in the chair, pushed the button, and decided to "just let it go." At first, it was a little strange having my feet and legs squeezed. And then it squeezed my arms, completely trapping them in between two layers of an armrest. But after I got over the initial strangeness, I sat, relaxed, and let go. The massage was amazing; so comfortable, so relaxing. When I got off the chair, I felt so good.

In life, God can ask us to do crazy things. Things that we don't want to do. Whatever God is asking us to do may seem painful, it may seem nonsensical. God may be asking us to sit in that huge massage chair, and we finally decide to go ahead and sit in it, overcoming our fears of what will happen in that massage chair; we decide to act on the call of God. But once we follow His call--once we sit in that chair--we can make it unnecessarily painful.

We can sit and resist the movements of the chair; we can resist all the movements of God. This resistance causes pain and discomfort; also, once a length of time is over, the person is not as finely relaxed and refreshed as he or she should--because he or she does not fully embrace God's calling. God then will be unable to use the person as fully as He desired. Once the massage is over, if there has been resistance, a person is not as loosely relaxed and refreshed. However, if a person sits in the massage chair and relaxes, letting the chair knead and move him or her, this person--when the massage is over--comes out of the chair loose, relaxed, joyful, and refreshed. When a person fully embraces God's call, and trusts in Him completely, he or she will let God knead and move him or her as He wills. Then, the person will be refreshed in God, and filled with joy.

God wants us to sit in our own massage chair.
So we finally--on a leap of faith--sit in that chair.
But what we do once we're in the chair will determine how much God can work in us.