Warrior Women of the Word

What is on your key ring?

I sat at my kitchen table drinking my coffee.  The day was gloomy and overcast and I was feeling a little sorry for myself; wishing I was anywhere but here; somewhere the sun was shining and the day held promises this gloom in Rhode Island just seemed to smother.  So, I started a conversation with the Spirit of God.  Running my hands through my hair I said, “God, what should I do?”  It wasn’t that I didn’t have anything to do; I had my list in front of me of things that I wanted to accomplish by the end of that day.  But, I was looking for some guidance in my dreary day.  I felt the unction to go for a stroll, not a walk but a stroll around my city.  I could see clearly in my mind where I was to go.  So, I poured my coffee into a paper cup, snapped on the lid and headed for the door.  I looked down into my hand to make sure I had my keys and I locked my deadbolt as I started my stroll.  The Spirit of God prompted me, “What is on your key ring?”  So, I looked and took stock: I had my house keys, one for the front door to the building and one to my apartment, a key to my son’s house and one to my father’s apartment, a key to the church, my car key, a handy dandy flashlight, and those pesky cards that everyone is forced to carry so you can get the discounted prices at the supermarket, and a card for the gym that I never seem to have time to visit.  Each item seemed to represent something important in my life.  They also represented something that I had pursued to achieve.  The house key and the car key are easy ones.  We work our jobs and pay our money so we may drive in reasonable comfort, always seeming to be less and less satisfied with the vehicle that is taking us to our destination.  The vehicle grows old and needs repairs.  Newer more prestigious vehicles are manufactured every year to make us desire something better, more fuel efficient, nicer to drive and be comfortable driving. But, mine is just an old truck (an SUV actually) and it is not fuel efficient nor is it comfortable driving.  My apartment keys are special to me, although I admit I wish I had keys to a nicer apartment in less violent neighborhood.  My house keys are not shared; I am the only one who opens this door, and those keys represent a kind of sanctuary for me.  My son’s key and my father’s key represent relationships that I share with my family, relationships where their homes and lives are open to me to enter in at my will.  My key to the church represents my ministry efforts and the relationship I have fostered with a body of believers here on earth.   Those pesky cards are used when I take the money with which God has blessed me and I go shopping for food or just things that I desire.  The gym card represents my health, which seems at this time to be in a state of neglect.  It then occurred to me that not everyone has a key ring.  Ask a person who lives under a bridge what keys are on their key ring.  They will probably tell you they have no need for such a ring as they hold no keys to open any locks.  My key ring, therefore, also represents my own prosperity, my riches, so to speak.  There are locks in my life that I have the key to open and shut at my will.  They are all good keys, keys that I have pursued to own.  We pursue the ownership of these keys through our jobs, ministry work, and relationships.  I could not have the key to my truck if I had not had the means to purchase it in the first place, each month the rent is due for my apartment.  If the relationship with my son and father were not cared for and nurtured then those keys would be revoked, just as the key to the church would be revoked or repossessed if I did not continue to work with that body of believers.  I would have no need of the discount cards for the stores if I did not have money to purchase items from those establishments.  And the gym key, well, my good health is in my own hands.  Some of us even have keys on our ring that we have no idea what lock it opens.  These keys represent wasted time.  Those locks are no longer of any significance to us and are just extra weight carried along until such a time when we choose to clean off the dead weight we are toting .

I walked, or rather strolled, towards the city of Pawtucket, and stopped at a small park that overlooks an historical cemetery.  I sat and drank my coffee while having this inspiring conversation with the Spirit of God.  I watched as people drove by in their cars going about their weekend chores and pursuits.  I then wondered about the people whose bodies were lying dormant in that cemetery.  What keys did they pursue to own while they were alive on this earthly plane?  Where were those keys now and did they even matter?  Their bodies are still and quiet in the grave and their keys were passed on to some friend or relative when they drew their final breath.  Did they pursue the right keys?  Jesus then reminded me of the verse in scripture that says, "And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." (Matthew 16:19)  I wondered how many of the people buried in this large historical cemetery had actually left this earth with the proper keys that would open the desirable doors to heaven for them.  How many were found standing on a spiritual plane with no keys in their hands? The keys that they had so actively pursued on earth were now taken from their grasp.  The key to front door of their earthly home no longer mattered; they did not live there anymore.  The only key that mattered was the key to the Kingdom that could only be given to them through the cultivation of a relationship with the Christ himself!  Did they leave this earth, this physical plane with the proper keys that would open the doors of heaven to them?  I thought to myself how sad it would be to be standing as a spirit man with no keys in my hand!  Where would I go?  Would the door to heaven be locked to me?

I decided I wanted to “meet” some of these people who were lying still and quiet in this graveyard.  First I met William White who died at the age of 63 in 1874.  His grave marker states that the dead shall be raised.  He was born in Stockport England in 1811 and died a sojourner in the United States.  Then I met Joseph Smith who was born in 1798 and died in 1864 at the age of 66.  His grave marker says “This mortal man must put on immortality.”   Then I saw a small grave stone that had been broken at some point between 1800 something and now.  The interesting thing about this marker is that it states that little George lived for 1 year and 10 and 3 days.  Each day in his short life was accounted.  Each moment was put into memoriam. It was a short life, but really, how long is each life?  The scripture tells us, As for man, his days are like grass; As a flower of the field, so he flourishes. For the wind passes over it, and it is gone, And its place remembers it no more.* (Psalm 103: 15&16) I continued to stroll thought this cemetery with the ancient grave markers and read the inscriptions.  Some had old metal stars on the graves showing their service in the civil war, some denoted the death of a soldier on his way home from the war.  Others stated that someone was the wife and mother of someone, beloved husband, son or daughter.  I wondered if I died today what would be inscribed on my grave marker.  What have I accomplished that could be noted for the next generations to read and be inspired by?  I decided at that moment that I did not want a grave marker; I wanted to leave a life marker.  I wanted to leave an indelible mark on this life on earth that would encourage people to look at their key rings and pursue after a relationship with Christ that would open more doors than any earthly key can represent. I wanted to get a spiritual indelible magic marker and write on a spiritual tablet something that could never be blotted out by the course of history. My life is no different than any other man or woman who has passes though history, unless I pursue righteousness and leave my “mark”.   I can pass on my car keys and my house keys and any other keys to my children when I die.   The scripture states, "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.  (Matthew 6:33) The “Keys to the Kingdom” are really the only keys that matter in this life.  We must, at all costs, pursue after these spiritual keys.  Do you possess those keys?  Are these the keys that you will pass on to your next generations when your last breath leaves this mortal body and you, like Mr. Joseph Smith, put on immortality?  When you are waiting, like Mr. William White, to be raised from the dead at the long awaited sound of the trumpet, will you be one of the dead in Christ who will rise? 

Again, the spirit of God asks us the question, “What is on your key ring?”