The Wool in the Dye
Greeting and good morning brothers and sisters. This is Dr. James Perry continuing with our series
where we seek to explore the deeper meanings of our relationship with Jesus Christ. Over the years,
the heavenly Father has revealed many revelations of spiritual truth to me, and I want to share them
with you. This morning we seek to understand the meaning of the wool in the dye.
And now, sit back and listen to today's message.
The Wool in the Dye
"Jesus said, 'I and my Father are one.'" John, Chapter 10, Verse 30.
On the mighty sea the ship steams
Overcoming the waves under its own means
But soon a storm arises and batters the hull
And hammers and hammers without a lull.
It finally breaks the lining of the seal
And water does creep and began to steal
Into the inner parts of the ship,
And soon it begins to sink and flip,
Sliding into a watery grave
Far beneath the stormy waves.
The ship is in the water
And the water is in the ship,
And they are one.
Brothers and sisters, in today's broadcast, we shall explore the truth that the heavenly Father lives
in us and we live in the heavenly Father. This broadcast was inspired by the continuing saga of my
daughter's medical education. Often new truth is found on the back of emotional and psychic turmoil.
My daughter has progressed about half way through the first semester, and she is entering that period
that all medical students enter. This is the period when the realization of being overwhelmed begins
to take its emotional and physical toil. Exhaustion is beginning to set in, and the student can see no
way out of his difficulties. He continues to study but finds that all of this intense study is not
sufficient to master all of the material that is presented to him. It is at such a time that the complaints
become louder and louder until they reach the high heavens. They even question the validity of the
whole process. They question the validity of being required to attend class all day every day, five
days a week. The days and nights seemed to be a never-ending run of emotional, intellectual, and
physical difficulties. Sometimes they feel as if they are losing their minds. They are becoming like
Job, who longed for day when it was night, and longed for night when it was day, so intense and
prolonged was his suffering.
These unrelenting pressures soon affect the very core of their being, and the students are led to
question their purpose. Do I really want to be a doctor? How can I get out of this prison of torture
and suffering without embarrassment, or shame, or feeling that I have failed? And if I do quit what
will I do then? What can I say to those who have invested so much in me in the way of financial
support, faith, confidence and encouragement ? And if I don't quit, do I really have what it takes to
make it? Those days of basking in the sunlight of being accepted to medical school have passed
away, and they seem so very distant and irrelevant.
And as they look at those who have gone before them, they fail to realize that they have gone through
the same process. They try to comfort themselves with the false comfort that their experience is
somehow different. And it is different but not in the essentials. It is at such a time they begin to feel
that they can't stay and can't go. This is a ruinous emotional state to be in. And this dilemma must
be resolved. The student has allowed his feelings to make him feel that he has no choice, but he does
have a choice. He can stay or he can leave. And when the student finally realizes this, his emotional
difficulties are over. Most of them will decide to stay; occasionally one or two will decide to leave,
and on very rare occasions, one may refuse to make the decision to stay or go, which disrupts his
mind. But those who finally make the decision to stay, the complaining stops and they settle down
for the long struggle, releasing those potentials that will transform them into physicians. The process
of becoming a physician is a difficult one--only those who stay with the struggle will become one.
The experience that my daughter is now undergoing brought back many memories of the days of
struggling to become a physician. And I went through the same emotional, intellectual and physical
challenges, but this experience has triggered something else in me. Only a parent can know the
excruciating emotional pain of watching their child flounder in a emotional jungle of uncertainty.
Only a parent can watch as their hopes and fears walk the high wire above the chasms of
disappointment and wait and wait to finally learn whether their hopes will be realized and make it
to the other side of the platform off of the high wire of expectations or will their worst fears be
realized and dashed down onto the rocks of disappointed hopes. Only a parent can know the horrible
suspense of realizing that all the time of guidance, investment, sleepless nights, the love, patience,
encouragements, and the nameless sacrifices that have been made for the child's welfare may go up
in smoke. Only a parent can know the terrible feeling of having your encouragement, faith, hope,
your love, your dreams for the child rejected as the child enters some disagreeable experience that
they cannot readily escape from. Only the parent can know the terrible anxiety of waiting and hoping
for the child to develop his wings of adulthood and take to the sky of responsibility.
If you have a microscope and you look at dye solution being used to color a garment, not only would
you see the molecules of dyes coating the fibers of the garment but you would also see some of the
fibers floating in the dye. Thus the dye is in the wool and wool is in the dye; stated spiritually, the
Father is in us and we are in the Father. Just as the Father knows how we feel, we can know how the
Father feels. Every parent who has gone through the experience of rearing a child knows how the
spiritual Father feels about his children. As they refuse to acknowledge the love that he has for them,
the comfort, faith, and trust that he has for them, his heart feels sorrow. As he observes their travels
down the road of disobedience, knowing this path can only end in disappointment and failure and
sometimes death, his heart feels a peculiar kind of sorrow and pain and anguish that only a parent
can feel. He must wait and wait for the child to take on the challenge of the struggle. The Father
cannot take the child out of the experience, he can only support him morally and spiritually. And let
this be a lesson to all earthly parents: just as we understand our children, the Father understands us;
just as our children will understand us once they become parents, we can understand the Father now
that we have become parents.
Now that we understand how the Father feels, let us cooperate more fully with his divine plan for
our lives. Let us steel our resolves to go all the way. The goal of perfection will surely crown our
efforts, if we do not become discouraged and quit. If only we keep the faith in the Father and within
ourselves, we can achieve the goal that he set for us--divine perfection through his Son, Jesus.
Remember the Father is in us and we are in him, thus the Father is going through the experience of
life with us and as us. Allow this truth to comfort and encourage as we continue the awesome
struggle to achieve divine perfection.
This concludes today's message on understanding the meaning of the wool in the dye. We hope you
find something in this message to ponder and pray about as you go about your day.
Until next time,this is Dr. James Perry.
Inspirational Messages
By Dr. James Perry
Your Kingdom Come, Your Will Be Done!
The Wool in the Dye
