‘Sooner’

5/1/2018

I Was Thinking…

A mother was telling her little girl about life on the farm when she was growing up. “I had great fun on the farm,” she said. “I had my own swing made from an old car tire that hung from an oak tree. I had a pony to ride. I used to slide down the haystack in the summer. And when it snowed, I would ride in a sleigh pulled by one of the horses. My life on the farm was a really joyful experience.” The little girl’s eyes lit up as she said to her mother, “I sure wish I had met your sooner.”

Life is full of discoveries along the way. Some of those discoveries cause us to whisper to ourselves, “I sure wish I had met you sooner.” Yet we are so glad that we finally met that discovery. For instance, I wish I had known sooner that you don’t walk amongst the beach sand spurs barefooted. After the pain of spurs in my feet and the pain of having them removed, I could only think to myself, “I won’t do that again! I wish I had met that wisdom sooner.”

A sadness to observe in myself and in others from time to time is when we don’t understand a ‘wisdom’ that has come our way. Therefore, we keep repeating the same errors along the way. Wasn’t it Albert Einstein that defined insanity as continuing to do the same thing over and over expecting to get different results?

There are many ‘wisdoms’ of which I say, “I sure wish I had met you sooner.” But I pray that my family, friends and colleagues will keep me from being blind to those places of insanity that keep repeating themselves. God’s maturing grace is offered to all. I believe God desires to send blessings our way. When they come may we all, with great appreciation, greet them with “I sure wish I had met you sooner.”

To you, the clergy and laity of the Atlanta-Marietta District, “I sure wish I had met you sooner”. But I’m sure glad we serve our Lord together in this area of God’s world in this season of our lives. May the Month of May be full of God’s Blessings for you, your family and your church as you seek to reach communities of people for Christ.

Always Thinking…