Sheena stopped her car as she passed Mary and me walking
along the road. We got a shock. Her eyes were fading purple bruises; she
sported a plaster on the bridge of her nose. The raccoon look.
‘What happened?’ we gasped.
She explained. As she carried a heavy watering can to the
front of the garden, she caught her toe on a paving slab which stood slightly
proud of the others. Pitching forward, still clutching the watering can, she
slammed nose-first into the new picnic table they had just painted. She heard
the cartilage as it snapped and blood gushed out. Pinching the bridge together,
she cried out to her husband, and then spent a night in hospital while they
assessed the damage. She’s now waiting for the swelling to subside so they can
do some remedial work. Sheena is hopeful that by pinching her nose together,
she will be spared the ‘rugby-player’s nose’ look.
The Bible encourages us to strengthen our feeble arms and
weak knees and to make level paths for our feet, so that nobody will be hurt. I’ve
been thinking a lot about the twisting paths of my personality and seeking to
straighten them out and smooth them. I don’t want some errant trait of mine standing
proud to trip up someone who is looking for God. John the Baptist called us to
prepare the way for Jesus to enter into this world through us. No stones
standing proud.
Some paving slabs are pretty heavy. I need God’s help on
this.
No comments:
Post a Comment