Thursday, April 29, 2021

Bridges...

 

Bridges are structures that span and provide passage over a waterway or other obstacle.  It can also be a transitional passage connecting two subjects.  And, third, a bridge can be a metaphorical bridge, for example a way of connecting two people who have differences of opinions or coming to terms with something in your life that has a huge gap for you to cross.

My family comes from a small town in Ohio called Russellville which has a covered bridge for my grandfather’s family called the George Miller Covered Bridge.  It gave us passage across a large creek to get to Grace and George’s farm.  Then, once you drive through the covered bridge you come to another impassible larger creek where a fascinating “rope” bridge spans the air above the creek to get to the house. We would go there as kids and have to cross this bridge for a visit when the creek was too high and washed out the road to get to the house!  And, a generation before me, my grandfather would carry his son, Jack on his back to get over to the house.  This “rope” bridge which was not only high in the air above the ground, but “swings” back and forth as you walk! Can you imagine an adult carrying an adult size person across such a bridge?  You see, Jack had spina bifida and could not walk from the time he was 9 months on.  My grandfather was a very strong and determined man.  He carried Jack every time.

Can you imagine how many bridges my grandparents must have crossed in Jack’s life of 24 years from 1925-1949?  Wheel chairs had not been invented yet, nor could they afford one back then. They bridged many gaps in their life for Jack, but I believe this rope bridge was the most fun!

I loved crossing that bridge once I finally got the courage to start walking across it.  And, when I see a picture of that rope bridge, I realize the Lord was preparing me to cross a different type of bridge after my divorce.  It was a bridge to healing, light, wholeness and love and acceptance.

So, what bridges have you had to cross in your life?  Have they been physical in nature or metaphorical?  Or both?  Picture in your mind where a bridge might be needed in your life now?  Is it a broken relationship?  Or, a bridge to a new job or career?  Or, a new idea that needs to be expressed in your life?   Or, new way of thinking about an old issue?  

Whatever the gap, build a bridge.  Find a way. Start today.  Mend the fence. Walk across to wholeness. Allow yourself to find the healing that is needed.  Offer a helping hand to someone who needs to walk across a bridge to a new life!  Encourage them.  And, go yourself.  GO!  Bridges were meant to be crossed.  They provide a way.  Start the trek.

 

Sunday, April 25, 2021

Scattered...

Scattered……

Distributed loosely….disseminated….dispersed….sprinkled…..strewn…..sown….thrown.

When was the last time you scattered grass seed in your yard?  Some of us have a “spreader” to help us disperse the seed evenly, others use a small hand held device that does the same and yet others literally use their bare hands to scatter the seed.

How about your heart? Your life?  Does it feel “scattered?” Are there scattered pieces that you would like to gather?  Or perhaps, that you would like to sprinkle down to the next generation? 

Think about that for a moment.  What would you like to scatter to others?  Do you have interpersonal skills or analytical skills to share and teach those around you?  Do you have the gift of hospitality that you could scatter to others on a regular basis?

Could you sprinkle some happiness to those in your sphere of influence? What about joy? What could you share that would bring you pure joy or give another that type of joy?  A smile? A hug?  A card or letter?  A phone call to someone you have not talked to in a long time?  Pure joy doesn’t cost a lot of money.  It is an intrinsic emotion that is given in an instant like when my son was born.  That was pure joy.  He is pure joy!  And, his life has “scattered” joy into my life ever since he was born!

Will you disseminate love to your family and friends?  How can you disseminate love to all you meet? 

How about sowing seeds of faith to the next generation?  The Bible says in Matthew 17:20: “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, “Move from here to there, and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.”

IF you have faith.  Even a small amount of faith like the size of a mustard seed.  Have you ever seen a mustard seed?  I have a pin that was given to me years ago in BeFriender Training that has a mustard seed encased inside a plastic bubble.  It is SO small.  Faith that small can allow you to move a mountain?  Yes, absolutely it can.

I have witnessed many mountains being moved in my lifetime.  And, I believe it is because I have had faith that gives me courage, love and a sense of peace that passes all understanding as well as a deep abiding joy.  This seed of joy is like a buoyancy that never goes away.  It gathers all the scattered pieces of my life and heart and brings them to a mountain of God. He brings all these scattered seeds together and this relationship brings my life pure joy.

Is my life scattered?  You bet!  Yet, it is a life strewn across almost 65 years and one that I will never regret those scattered parts of my heart.  I would never throw away those scattered parts even when I am broken at times.  I have been lost at other times, yet I am held in the hands of a loving God who takes my scattered, broken life and mends every fracture in my heart and gathers evert seed into something good.

Scattered.  Gathered.  Whole.