Pondering a fallen countenance this morning:

After a difficult night's sleep, I got out of bed this morning with vivid images from the dream I had just had.

I was back in college helping a freshman get to class, when I saw a young man I knew standing in a food service line.

"Good morning", Sam. I said, as I approached the boy.

I carried a clipboard with a list of student's names and classes. Looking at that list, I could see Sam was skipping his first class.

"Sam, are you skipping class?" I asked.

"Yes."

As Sam spoke the word, a spot of red color appeared on the white tie he was wearing.

I asked him why he was skipping. He told me he was hungry and more red soaked into his tie.

"But I saw you earlier this morning in the breakfast line."

He walked out of the line mumbling something under his breath. More red color washed onto his tie. I followed him to the door of the class where the professor was sitting with a clip board and pen in his hand. He looked at the young man, spoke his name and asked why he had skipped the class. As Sam began to explain, the professor politely refuted all his excuses. The professor handed the clip board, with it's stack of blank paper clipped to it and the pen from his hand to Sam.

"Now, Sam, since you are new here, I will not leave you in the dark about the requirements for this class. However, since you refused to attend this morning, I will not be giving you the printed syllabus. I will dictate it to you. It is 50 pages long," spoke the professor.

At this point, Sam's tie was completely drenched with red color and his face was as white as the paper on the clip board. He fell to his knees dropping the clip board and his face began to droop. When the professor started listing the requirements for the class, Sam couldn't keep up and his face continued to droop until it puddled on the floor in front of him.

Talk about a fallen countenance. That young man went from simple embarrassment to total dejection in the course of a few events. At first, I felt sorry for Sam. After all, I knew him. I wanted to step forward and defend him. But then it occurred to me, it all could have been prevented.

Events happen in our lives that will make us feel embarrassed, dejected, blue, melancholy or guilty.

Who is orchestrating those events and what is His plan in doing so?

The young man in my dream was being irresponsible and he reaped the consequences. Should his reaction have been embarrassment and guilt or remorse and repentance?

Scripture has a lot to say about a fallen countenance. I will use the next few blogs to discuss those passages and hopefully remind myself how to keep my face off the floor.