Matthew 11:28-30
28 “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Reflection
So, the Butler family has been doing some work in the yard this summer and an improperly buried electrical wire to the shed was accidentally cut in the midst of the work. In discovering this we also discovered there were some other issues with the electrical, so an electrician was called for a consult. Bottom line….we need to run some new wiring and in order to do so a 12-14 foot trench, 18 inches deep needed to be dug.
Now 18 inches doesn’t sound that deep, until you are digging through clay and buried rock and other debris lost under our lawn. I know for some of you, this would not be anything out of the ordinary. For us, it was a wee bit of a challenge. However, I am cheap enough to insist we do it ourselves, rather than pay the electrician to do it. So, it became a bit of a family project this past week. As we dug we realized how easy it is to lose sight of how deeply you have dug, so rather than pull out the measuring tape every time, we marked off 18 inches on a piece of wood and used that as the measuring tool to gage our progression.
It wasn’t very long before Jorryn named our newly crafted tool “The Disappointment Stick” as every time we would reach it into the trench there was great disappointment in how little it seemed we had accomplished. Time and time again the Disappointment Stick reminded us of how our ditch was not measuring up (which easily translated into how WE were not measuring up!).
It got me thinking….how many of us carry our own Disappointment Sticks with us each day, using them to measure ourselves and others? How often do we see our faults and the faults in others, rather than notice how beautiful, gifted, unique, caring, courageous, tenacious, determined, spirited, gentle-mannered we/they are?
Thankfully God does not have a Disappointment Stick with us and I can imagine the voice of God inviting us to lay ours down, never to be picked up again.
Prayer
O God – open my eyes to wonder, joy and gratitude. Help me to lay down my Disappointment Stick and walk with you. Amen.
To Listen and Sing
