“Be sober-minded; be vigilant. The devil prowls like a roaring lion." ~ 1 Peter 5:8
The first circus came to America
in 1783, offering a traveling menagerie of wild animals on display. Spectators
paid to view the animals up close in small, cramped cages. Once the first lion ‘tamer’
stepped into the ring with a big cat, it became the most popular act in the
show.
Fifty years later, the first American lion tamer entered the
ring with a lion, tiger, and leopard. Dressed in a fancy costume, he put on daring
theatrics demonstrating the mastery of ‘man over beast.’ He’s credited with
being the first to put his head in a lion's mouth.
Clyde Beatty became the next big
lion-taming celebrity in the mid-1920s. Beatty used only two tools - a whip and
a stool, tamers use only two tools to control the fierce beast prowling around
the cage. Odd right?
A lion can easily overpower,
maul, and kill it's prey. Blessed with mighty strength and unrivaled speed, its
bite can crush bones with little difficulty.
Lions aren’t afraid of stools –
they’re distracted by them. When faced with the legs of the stool, lions
try concentrating on all four at once. Unable to focus, it stands frozen;
unsure about what to do next. The lion tamer stands reasonably safe behind the stool’s
diversion.
Lion taming makes for a great
metaphor. Teachers tame lions when they discipline rowdy kids. Businesspeople
tame lions when they assuage an angry customer or a growling boss.
Parents tame lions when they try to reason with contrary teens.
Taming a lion means approaching
something intimidating and powerful and using one’s wits and strategies to
disarm it. Making progress improving your health, work, and faith isn’t about
learning how to concentrate better, it’s about learning how to choose and
commit to a specific task.
Instead of walking with
God and following His plan, we walk ahead of Him. We allow artificial
things to sabotage our journey; things that move us in the wrong direction. Online
games, social media, addictions, stress, busyness, and pointless distractions
lead us astray.
Fortunately, we have the
ability to think, adapt, and reverse direction when we realize we’re following
the wrong path. When the world waves a chair in your face, remember to start
with prayer and seek God’s will above our own. If we listen to other voices,
we’ll miss out on hearing His voice and His priorities.
Otherwise, we risk not getting
God’s pure Light to shine through.
