So the people shouted when [the priests] blew with the trumpets: and it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city.
Joshua 6:20

For innumerable reasons, we build walls around us,
The kind of walls that keep those around us at arm’s length,
Why?
We fear being misunderstood, we fear being mocked, we fear being ostracized, ridiculed, left out, the list is long and arduous…,
So, we become expert wall-builders,
The proverbial Fort Knox has nothing on some of us man,
Women are not so much into this as men are[please, of course god knows, women do it too, anyhow, men are more intense wall-builders]…

I was watching one of my favourite TV shows, ‘Parenthood’ when I noticed tears just streaming down my face,
Tears for a life that feels like it lost its way somewhere along its long journey,
Tears for a life that has so many regrets,
Tears for a life that still wants to experience so much more,
But, most of all, tears for a life that’s well and securely hidden and closely guarded by its ‘walls of Jericho’,
Tears for a life that wants to come out of hiding,
And bloom like a desert flower after the first rains of summer…

This, of course, got me thinking…,
Why am I still behind my walls of Jericho?
During the rare times when I open up and let the ‘tourists’ get a ‘whiff’ of the authentic me, people close to me look at me as if they’ve just seen me for the first time, and all kinds of accolades come rushing at me,
Whether it’s a speech I’ve just given,
A dance I’ve just danced,
A book I’ve just published,
An invalid I helped leave their chair forever[using naturopathy, my beloved profession, please no televangelist healings here, though, bless them who do that too, why not?],
And yet, and yet,
I immediately go back into hiding…

I don’t want to do that anymore,
I’m tired of hiding,
I want to commune with my fellows,
I want to ‘come out and play’,
I want to be me,
I want my walls of Jericho to come crashing down and stay down,
I want to push my shoulders back, straighten up, look the world in the eye,
And say:-
‘Hi, world, here I am and this is what I want!!! Anyone for a spot of Earl-grey tea?’