#brokenbutnotafraid 10

23 Dec 2017 12 Comments

by Phindela muses in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , ,

Moses: From Prince to border jumper.

The princess told the woman, “Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you.” So she took the baby and nursed him. Later, when the child was old enough, she took him to the king’s daughter, who adopted him as her own son. She said to herself, “I pulled him out of the water, and so I name him Moses.”
Exodus 2:9‭-‬10 GNB
https://bible.com/bible/296/exo.2.9-10.GNB

So Moses grows under the care of his own biological mother who is actually paid a royal stipend for looking after him on behalf of the princess, but that’s a story for another day.

When Moses is grown he is taken into the palace and adopted as the son of the princess and hence technically becomes a prince also and obviously benefits from the royal attributes.

I see him in fine linen, great food, great tutors and a bright future. I see him enjoying a diplomatic protection that saw him venture into Israeli territory without fear.

I am not sure what pulled him towards the Israel settlements but it is there that he committed his first murder.

He killed an Egyptian who was abusing an Israeli and thought he had concealed it. In my book it was a righteous deed as he came to the defence of the weak and he sought to correct an anomaly.

The irony of it is that the people that he was defending are the ones who outed him. When he found some Israelites in contention, he did not intervene with a murderous intent, no, he wanted to make peace among brothers but behold what he got. .

The next day he went back and saw two Hebrew men fighting. He said to the one who was in the wrong, “Why are you beating up a fellow-Hebrew?” The man answered, “Who made you our ruler and judge? Are you going to kill me just as you killed that Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and said to himself, “People have found out what I have done.” When the king heard about what had happened, he tried to have Moses killed, but Moses fled and went to live in the land of Midian.
Exodus 2:13‭-‬16 GNB
https://bible.com/bible/296/exo.2.13-16.GNB

Therewith the story:

  1. Those who seek to change the routine do not depend on creature comforts to drive them. The quest for good is heart centred. Palace or no palace, Moses knew he had to right a wrong.
  2. Routine breakers have to be willing to suffer loss for the greater community to gain. Moses lost the prince status and became a fugitive in the quest to be a peacemaker.
  3. The change of circumstances for routine breakers cannot and must not change the quest to be a #routinebreaker. Moses moved from being a protected person to being a hunted fugitive, wanted dead or alive but this did not deter him from doing good and rescuing Jethro’s daughters despite being a border jumper and illegal immigrant in Sinai.

So, the vocation of a routine breaker is not subject to emotions, status or prevailing circumstances. It is premised from the heart and doesn’t stop until all good is done.

#brokenbutnotafraid

#betheroutinebreaker

#iamphindelasson

#brokenbutnotafraid 8

05 Oct 2017 19 Comments

by Phindela muses in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Be the routine breaker

“When the king heard about what had happened, he tried to have Moses killed, but Moses fled and went to live in the land of Midian. One day, when Moses was sitting by a well, seven daughters of Jethro, the priest of Midian, came to draw water and fill the troughs for their father’s sheep and goats.

But some shepherds drove Jethro’s daughters away. Then Moses went to their rescue and watered their animals for them. When they returned to their father, he asked, “Why have you come back so early today?” “An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds,” they answered, “and he even drew water for us and watered our animals.””

‭‭Exodus‬ ‭2:15-19‬ ‭GNB‬‬

http://bible.com/296/exo.2.15-19.gnb

So Moses flees Egypt and goes to the wilderness in the land of Midian, but that is not where my story is.

I meditated on Exodus 2:19 over my last shift using a colleague’s Bible that she had left on our work desk and the story above has been with me since then.

  1. The Midian Priest had a huge problem. We only hear of his daughters and no sons. I assume if he had any son or sons they were too young to be shepherds and therefore the task fell on his girls because I believe, his office as a priest did not allow him to be out herding sheep.
  2. The second problem was obviously centered on the well that must have been the only water source around the place as it is said to have been the point for drawing drinking water and watering animals. This meant that the well was a Key Strategic Point and it therefore came with the strictures and pain such places bring.
  3. The third problem was a gender issue. The Bible says the shepherds bullied the girls and chased them away from the watering point meaning,because of the bullies , the girls could not draw water for home and to let their animals drink.
  4. The fourth problem was time. Because of the first three problems it meant that the girls had to wait until the bully shepherds had had their fun and fill before they could draw water and have their animals drink. This meant that despite being among the first to arrive , the girls were always last to leave the well. It means they always drew bad water and that their animals drank when they were at the point of dehydration and that meant that when they arrived at home they were late for their girl chores as dictated by the patriarchal society of that time.

Then enter the ROUTINE BREAKER, Moses:

  • He stops the bullies
  • He rescues the girls
  • He draws water for them to cart home
  • He waters their animals
  • MOSES BROKE THE ROUTINE

And because routine breaker arrived on the scene , the girls went home at the time they deserved and even the priest realized their return on time. Normalcy had been returned by a foreigner who could not stomach abusive and disruptive routine.
Losing fear of fear will make you see the bad things that need to be broken. It will give you a voice for the mute , it will give you anger for the oppressed and down trodden and you would gladly go to bed happily knowing that you did your bit to restore things to good routine.

#betheroutinebreaker

#brokenbutnotafraid

#iamphindelasson

……… To be continued