The Plumbline

I am a people watcher - I can sit quietly, observing their interactions with others, or simply watch as they discover they have been caught in the act of talking to themselves!  We are interesting creatures - full of all kinds of surprises.  We often learn best when we can observe someone else do what it is we want to do.  For example, when I wanted to learn how to crochet, following those "easy illustrations" in the guide didn't help as much as watching my sister-in-law tear through a piece she is crocheting at the speed of light!  She counts stitches, creating a series of in/out movements, and makes it look all so easy.  I take the hook, count a few stitches, looking at what I have done, and it looks a little like what she has done - maybe not with the practiced perfection she exhibits in her knots, but I get closer to the desired outcome by having followed her "example" than by following the illustrations in a book! Watch what God does, and then you do it, ...

Have you ever been in a fog so dense you could barely see your hand out in front of you?  Or maybe a snow storm so intense you could not make out what was ahead because it was so obstructed by the intensity of the flakes falling? Or perhaps a dust storm so dark you felt enveloped by the darkness?  If you have, then you probably know how totally inadequate you felt making any kind of move - you just didn't want to venture into the unknown because of the potential harm which might be right in front of you, but be totally unrecognized.  Even when the storm finally passes, the fog clears, the dust settles, it is quite possible things will appear differently.  The dust leaves this huge layer of sandy substance over everything, in every crevice.  The snow changes the once recognizable things into mounds, but conceals what is underneath.  The fog leaves moisture which weighs down even the strongest of plants.  What is missing in most storms is the light! ...

I caught a post from a friend the other night which grabbed my attention and with which I identified with a little more than I would like to admit at times.  Her frustration came through in the post - not because she was ranting at something others had posted, but because she found herself having reached a point of "failure" in her life.  What came through loud and clear in the post was the fact she has been this route before!  There was something so honest in her post - the ability to admit she was at the end of her rope - traveling an all too familiar path right into the compromise she knew would lead to this exact place of disappointment.  Wow!  Been there, done that, bought the shirt, and wore it out!  Somehow, I felt directed to this passage this morning as I awoke with this friend on my mind and others who also might be at the place of having fallen just one more time.  I hope you will take heart as you read this with me. But I need something...