My first car cost all of $400.00. A drab olive-green Falcon almost ten years old at the time, it ran and gave me freedom to meet up with friends. Stretching my independence, I moved out from home to my first apartment, a rent comparable efficiency near a college campus. One day the car would not crank. I checked everything I knew to look for-battery and cables, connected and not corroded. Water in the radiator? Yes, as was antifreeze. Oil registering on the dipstick as full? Yep and looked clean. Gas? Gauge showed I still had a ¼ tank before empty. Everything seemed fine. I called Daddy who rescued me.
It happened again a couple of weeks later. He came with a gas can, followed me to the station, and filled up the car for me telling me to forget the gauge, just keep gas in it. I calculated miles per gallon but not being a math major, it happened again. Patience with my ‘car troubles’ worn thin after several times, Daddy asked me how much gas I had in the thing. “At least enough for five more miles,” got a frustrated sigh but he came to take care of me. My family still gets mileage from that response.
How often do we start out with a full tank each morning only to run out before the day ends? Whether it is energy, motivation, resolve, kindness, patience, or joy, we fall short of maintaining throughout the day. A series of circumstances depleting our reserves a bit at a time taking more than we prepare to give leaves us lacking, or wanting. Sometimes we dissolve into a pool of regret, rejection, frustration, or just simple exhaustion. What should we do when we run out of power? Whom should we call when we cannot move another step? Where do we turn when we need refuge? When we think we cannot go on? No matter what brought us to that point, call our Father. He will rescue us every time. He will recharge us. He will get us those five miles if we simply ask.
Psalm 46:1 God is our refuge and strength. A very present help in trouble.
Dimple,
ReplyDeleteyou are very good at spinning a tale, whether complex or simple, that pulls the reader in and makes them feel comfortable. Then you come at God sideways, and casually, as if simply pointing out someone we hadn't seen before because they were sitting quietly at the other end of the couch. As someone who does not now, and has not ever, gone to a church of any kind (unless someone's getting married or buried), yours are the only words about God I see/hear on anything even approaching a regular basis. I enjoy reading your words because of your skill in writing them and your message seems to come in as an added bonus; I find I do not mind the message because of the casual way in which you deliver it.
Congratulations on becoming, whether intentionally or un-, my very own missionary of the mind.
Welcome to Blogger, Sweet Lady.