Fickle People

When they came to the home of the synagogue leader, Jesus saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly. He went in and said to them, “Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.” But they laughed at him. After he put them all out, he took the child’s father and mother and the disciples who were with him and went in where the child was. Mark 5:38-40 (NIV)

I have never understood how people can switch their emotions very quickly. My husband knows this all too well. If I’m upset, you can’t tickle me to make me feel better, and even after whatever upset me is addressed, it takes a while to come out of my grumpiness; I hate it, seriously, I wish I could at one moment be upset and the next be as though nothing ever happened, especially when there is no need to kill the joy of the moment.

But this verse isn’t about that.

Fickle people. They’re all around. Their emotions have no foundation. They can be tossed about by any wind of information. They follow whatever crowd hangs around, and do whatever the crowd does. They have no convictions; no moments of deep thinking; they drown in the shallowness of their fickleness. To them, everything is a joke, even when they look to be serious.

Fickle people.

If you surround yourself with fickle people, it won’t be long before you become fickle like them, and soon, you would not be able to recognise when you are sleeping, because you will think you are dead, and even the thought of that would be a joke to you. You give up on yourself without realising you still have a lot to offer. So you will leave the earth without making any impact at all. Your life like a footprint by the beach – the next wave that hits the shores will wash you away.

Of fickle people, beware!