The Plumbline

Kites rise highest against the wind - not with it. (Winston Churchill) I know there are lots and lots things we walk through that have absolutely no appeal to us - we'd rather just dismiss them and walk away rather than go through them. What makes it more frustrating for us is the prolonged period of facing those troubles. We don't mind if they 'come and go' as long as they do so quickly. We don't want them hanging around! All kites rise best when there is wind, my friends, and opposing winds help it to soar higher and higher. A kite without the wind is just a little bit of fabric, paper, sticks, and string. With the wind, it is majestic beauty! My brothers and sisters, you will have many kinds of trouble. But this gives you a reason to be very happy. You know that when your faith is tested, you learn to be patient in suffering. If you let that patience work in you, the end result will be good. You will be mature and complete. You will be all that God wants you t

Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. (Ralph Waldo Emerson)  There have been lots of times I hiked on paths just way too hard for my level of conditioning. I don't know why I do it, but somehow I think I will make it. About a third of a way to the destination my body begins to tell me I bit off more than I can chew and in a short while it begs for me to just turn back! When we find ourselves on a path that is hard, maybe even what we might come to recognize as 'too hard' for us, what do we do? Turn back? Rest a while and go on? Creep forward at a snail's pace because we won't be fazed by the torture of moving forward? If you are like me, you rest a bit, then press on. You might find you need frequent rests along the way, but eventually you make it to the destination. Worn out, aching from the exertion, maybe even with a few blisters to show the 'torture' of the climb - but you made it. Making it isn't th

"Over every mountain there is a path, although it may not be seen from the valley."  Theodore Roethke I have done a fair amount of hiking in my lifetime, but one thing continues to amaze me when I reach some summit point - the look back down the trail by which we ascended to this new height. The 'look back' often shows just how many switchbacks, twists, and turns that path really took. It also often shows us just how much we missed that was right there in front of us, but because of the things that 'bordered' the path, we missed what was just beyond that border. The view from the top is much different than the view while we are traveling the path. At the moment we enter that 'trail head' to explore the path, do we know what the path will hold? Not likely. If we have traveled it before, we are probably a little familiar with it, but even a short period of time and the influence of the elements can change that path. Erosion occurs where rain water

One that would have the fruit must climb the tree.  (Thomas Fuller) When was the last time you climbed a tree? It has been years since I have actually climbed a tree in a literal sense! I consider it good these days to just scale a ladder! In a spiritual sense, I am constantly being asked to climb trees and reminded of the advantage of getting that different perspective! Not to mention - access to fruit I'd otherwise never be able to reach! Godly men are growing a tree that bears life-giving fruit, and all who win souls are wise. (Proverbs 11:30 TLB) A tree is made up of all manner of branches - some large and quite broad spreading; others wispy-like, but capable of holding lots and lots of weight beyond their imagined capacity. We'd think nothing of taking hold of that one with the broad expanse and firmness evident just by its size, right? We'd be silly to expect that wispy one to hold our weight, but it holds something very good if we can shimmy our way out t

Many of us have probably ridden a bike at one time or another. Isn't there a vast difference between coasting and peddling? Think of the last time you road uphill - how much more energy did you have to exert to actually get up that hill? If you are out of shape, you'd probably say it was horrendously hard! You found yourself huffing and puffing, holding onto your side which was splitting from the intense cramp you developed, and you knew for sure you'd "feel that one in the morning". Arnold Bennett was an English novelist and his opinion was that hills were meant for climbing, not coasting. Why? The best view was from the top! It shall come to pass  in the latter days  that the mountain of the house of the  Lord  shall be established as the highest of the mountains,  and it shall be lifted up above the hills;  and peoples shall flow to it,   and many nations shall come, and say:  “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the  Lord ,   to the house of the God of Jac

If you have ever climbed a mountain, you know there are times when you get so out of breath you just don't think you are going to make it any further. The stress of going up that additional altitude just puts a strain on you that your body takes a while to adjust to, even for the most "conditioned" climber. The fact that we have climbed a mountain before doesn't always prepare us for the next great peak we must scale. Every climb can and will be slightly different, even when we traverse the same mountain again! God arms me with strength,   and he makes my way perfect. 33  He makes me as surefooted as a deer,   enabling me to stand on mountain heights. (Psalm 18:32-33 NLT) We are always going to be faced with things in this lifetime that seem to be as immovable mountains - the only way to move past them is either to walk the long, long way around them, or climb the hard climb to get over them. There is something magnificent that happens in the climb, though, that

For his eyes are on  the ways of a man,   and he sees all his  steps. (Job 34:21 ESV) While considering this morning's passage, it brought to mind by an East Indian poet by the name of Rabindranath Tagore: "You can't cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water." The steps of a man are always in the sight of the Almighty - even when all he is doing is standing and pondering what it would be like to "get across" to the next place he'd like to be! The eye of man takes in the water in front of him, but God knows the passage safely through that water to the other side. Confucius said, "When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don't adjust the goals, adjust the action steps." While not all our goals are exactly what God would have for us, in adjusting the "action steps" we take toward those goals, it often becomes apparent the ones which he never intended to have us pursue in the first place! As we ponder our

If you have ever watched one of those game shows in which they allow a player to "call a friend" or "use a lifeline", you probably associate this maneuver as being their last-ditch hope for the possibility to move forward or to remain active in the game.  As they opt for this, they get "outside" help to solve a problem bigger than their ability to solve on their own.  This is the purpose of a lifeline - rescue.  A person who knits will tell you a totally different meaning of the term lifeline, though.  In the process of knitting a complex pattern, the knitter may actually insert a "spare thread" of yarn through an entire row of knitting.  This "lifeline" is not actually "knit into" the project and can easily be removed when the knitter is finished.  The purpose of the lifeline is to give a place to which you may return if you make a mistake beyond that point.  If you are attempting a complex pattern just above a whole lot of