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It
was brag time for me as a seven-year-old boy. My favorite Uncle Jack listened
as I told him how I had taken my dad's spade and gone to the garden to
dig. I had dug such a deep hole that I struck water! He nodded in approval.
Certainly, he realized that I really had it within me, I knew what I was
doing and I was going places!
As
I grew older I still loved to dig. I took the spade and dug many-a-ditch.
I loved to see the water run from small rivulets to the big stream down
the road. A real sense of satisfaction it was as I helped nature along.
My spade became a part of me as I entered high school and
university. I used it for other venues, creating and designing my place,
my niche in society. I continued to seek approval from friends, instructors,
and yes, my favorite Uncle Jack. What I dug was a much bigger and more
amazing hole than as a seven-year-old boy. Perhaps too many were impressed
at my aptitude, my skill, at carving out an existence.
However, there were times when my spade would hit a
rock or a hard object and I would have to dig around it to continue. Other
times that rock or boulder was left there as it was too heavy of an obstacle
to remove. Little did I know that one day, they would come crashing down
upon me as I labored with my spade down at the bottom of the hole. It became
increasingly more difficult to throw the soil and dirt up and over the
edge of the hole. My pace slowed down, as I grew weary. Then it happened!
All of the garbage--rocks and boulders I had left, suddenly gave way in
the midst of a rainstorm, deluging and inundating me. I was overwhelmed.
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That's
the picture of life in a real way. We carve our niche with friends, family,
and in society. Everyone looks up to us as we mold our existence with
the success of our labor. At times we encounter obstacles and we try
to work around them. If they become too labor-intensive, we merely leave
them, only to have them crashing down upon us at a weak moment in time.
At that point we cry out for help and someone
offers us hope, perhaps in the form of a rope which is thrown to us.
That Someone is the Anchor who gradually pulls our frame out of the hole
we have formed. A favorite verse I enjoy is Isaiah 42:3: "A bruised demeanor
(reed) He will not break, and an anxious gasp (smoldering wick) He will
not snuff out."
I encourage you, today, to grab onto the rope He is
patiently offering you. Give Him your spade and He will show you great
and amazing things--too wonderful to imagine!
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