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Topic: Beginnings (05/31/04)
TITLE: Start Here! By Donna Haug 06/05/04 |
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“Honey, can you give me a hand here?” I pass the bag to my husband with exasperation written all over my face.
“What’s wrong? Can’t get it?”
Of course I can’t get it! Would I make myself vulnerable to his knowing smile if I didn’t absolutely have to?
With a quick exploratory look at the stitching, my dear husband picks out the beginning of one string, gives it a little tug and the whole top of the bag unravels before my very eyes! How does he do that??
His trick lies in knowing how the stitching was made in the first place. You see, Mark has been to flour mills many times when we lived in southern Brazil. The orphanage we were directing had its own farm. He watched the men fill our sacks with flour which was ground from the wheat taken from our very own fields. He saw the machine that so quickly sewed up the tops of the bags with that magic string. It would be helpful to me if they would just attach a little tag to the beginning of that string saying “Pull here!” To him it makes perfect sense.
Too often, I can be that way with my personal walk with the Lord. I look at my life and think, “I can figure this out! This person said she followed this method. She found that her relationship with God intensified and saw great things happen. All I have to do is follow what she did!” And so, I pull and tug trying to find that elusive string.
Meanwhile, I believe my Jesus is watching me and shaking His head with this knowing smile on His face. He was there when I was knit together “in my mother’s womb”. He knows perfectly well how I am put together. My Lord is just waiting for me to give up on trying to follow everyone else, knowing exactly what it will take to draw me into a close walk with Him. All I need to do is ask for His help. As I hand the bag of my life over to Him, He tugs at exactly the right spot and exposes my heart – wide open to Him and available for His use. Other times, instead of pulling the string Himself, by the gentle prodding of the Holy Spirit, He points out exactly the spot where that mysterious string is hiding. Lo and behold, I find a tiny little tag hanging on the beginning of that string saying, “Start here!”
Have I taken time to allow Jesus to show me the beginning point for this day? Or will I spend my day picking at the strings, hoping for the best? Jesus, help me choose each day to say, “Lord, could you give me a hand here?”