Finally, I could feel spring in the air. Looking into the sunlight, I watched with excitement as the warmth began drying the tiny droplets of rain on our uncut blades of grass.
I felt I had just survived one of the most difficult winters of my life! Thinking it may never end, I was finally able to see the glimmer of hope, of warmth, of spring.
Riding season was upon us.
With one deep inhale, I rushed inside to grab my bike, I couldn't wait to ride!!!! I was tired of feeling old and stale, rickety and stiff, I just couldn't wait to move my legs.
Reaching for my bike I remembered, winter had been hard on all of us...especially my bike!
I had no choice but to give up that spring day ride so I could take my bike to the shop for a tune-up.
I tend to keep my bikes longer than most, so it's customary for the sales rep to give me the look of, "surely you're just going to get a new one?" Before, the negative comment exited his lips, I kindly reminded him, that I LOVE my bike and I would like to get it back in riding shape for this season.
The mechanic walks out, without a single word, takes my bike and puts it on the stand for its assessment.
He goes over each problem with care, makes some notes, hands it to the sales rep, who puts together the estimate.
Wanting to break the silence, I say, "You know, I feel a lot like my bike, after this winter.."
He stops writing, looks up at me for a second and then back down to finish the estimate.
Not wanting to say much else, I just watched my bike as the mechanic continued to carefully assess it. Then piece by piece, I was able to work with the sales rep to pick out new parts for my old bike.
And that's when I realized...
Most of the body of Christ feels like that old bike...
Old,
Rusted,
Stiff,
In dire need of repair,
In dire need of rebuilding.
There are times we have felt abandoned. .
There are times we have felt out of touch with ourselves, our families, our society, and even our heavenly Father.
In fact, many feel they ARE abandoned.
Many feel they are in this battle alone. Weak, worn out, in disarray, confused, just too tired to carry on, too worn out to fight.
BUT those times are coming to an END!
Just as I watched the mechanic with my bike, I saw the Heavenly Father, working over every detail in His Children's lives, carefully seeing that, they LACKED NOTHING.
He is carefully seeing that there will be NO feeble among us!
He says right there in His Word, "Do not be like them, for your FATHER knows what you have need before you ask Him." Matthew 6:8
We get caught up in the doing and forget about the BEING.
In these final days, as we work to carry out the Father's will on the earth, we mustn't forget, our only assignment is to be AS JESUS WAS.
"As He is, so are we in this world." 1 John 4:17
Jesus was never concerned with what he should do or what he should say, what he would wear or what he would eat.
He merely trusted His Father,
trusted in His love,
trusted in His goodness,
trusted in His mercy
and obeyed.
"Apart from the Father, I can do nothing." John 5:30
Apart from the Father we can do nothing. This is a time where we are going to have to come together in Unity and draw our strength from our Father's love. The ONLY source of strength in this earth, will be the Father's LOVE.
"Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing of himself; he can do only what he sees His Father doing, because whatever the Father does, the Son also does." John 5:19
As we approach this NEW and exciting season, let's allow the Father to repair our brokenness, heal our sicknesses and diseases, strengthen our weaknesses and soften our hearts so that His Will can be done on this earth, the same as it is in heaven. Let Him mold and shape us into His Image,
His Image of Unconditional Love.
