Hitting a Brick Wall (Corner, actually)!

Frank laughs trying to picture a 7 year old me doing this crazy, ridiculous thing.

 

All of you have done this crazy, ridiculous thing too.  And, getting ready to go back to school, you are in grave danger of doing this crazy, ridiculous thing again.

 

Proverbs 3:1-8

Trust in the LORD with All Your Heart

 ¹My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments,
²for length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you. 

 ³Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you; bind them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart.

⁴So you will find favor and good success in the sight of God and man.  

⁵Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.
⁶In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
⁷Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD, and turn away from evil.
⁸It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones.

What is this crazy, ridiculous thing?  Listening to our own understanding of things, and doing it "my way," instead of trusting God, and doing things His way.

 

My crazy, ridiculous story:

It was the summer of 1970.  I was 7 and my sister was 12.  On this particular hot, summer day, my parents had left me in the care of my sister.  This is not a character assasination of my sister, but more a window into the inner workings and mischievous mind of my 7 year old self.  My sister did her best to supervise me and coerce me into behaving.  Most of the time.  I was prone to acts of sillyness.  Hey, I was a 7 year old! 

 

We were living in San Antonio, Texas in a duplex next to a very nice elderly lady named Miss Haley.  Miss Haley wasn't home on this particular day.  Had she been, perhaps my random acts of willful mischief wouldn't have taken such a bizarre turn of events.  I liked Miss Haley.  However, in retrospect, I am not sure she really liked me.  She always seemed to look at me with her piercing blue eyes, as if to say, "I see you Mistress Mary Elizabeth and I won't abide any nonsense from you."  She reminded me of an eagle, with her snowy white hair, shiny blue eyes and pointed, aristocratic nose.  As mom used to say, "she had my number."  Meaning, she knew what I was capable of doing left unsupervised, and, when asked to watch me, kept me very occupied with puzzles, arts and crafts, and the obligatory 1 hour nap, which someone lasted into a second hour.  Miss Haley also made me do lots of reading, mostly from the Old Testament portion of the Bible, making me sound out mutli-syllable words over and over again.  Yup, she had my number all right!

 

As I said, it was a hot, summer day.  Mom and dad had provided a kiddie pool in our back yard.  Inevitably, we'd end up putting Mr. Bubbles into the pool and creating a foamy, soapy mess in the muddy yard.  If was bubble-licious!

 

I can't recall what possessed me (Mom said it was Old Ipsy).  I declared to my sister I was leaving home, in just my bathing suit and a towel.  Perhaps I was angry with her bossing me around.  Perhaps I was just bored.  Or, perhaps I was just listening to my internal reasoning of what I considered to be "fun," and started walking around the house to the front yard.

 

Here's where my deep intelligence was on display for all to marvel and admire.

 

The sun was beating on my head so I decided to put my damp towel over my head.  Completely over my head...to the point of not being able to see where I was going, over my head.  I imagine my childish intellect advised me to look at my feet and follow the sidewalk.  Which I did successfully for a while.

 

Did I mention I was barefooted? Did I also mention the sidewalk was HOT?  At some point, intelligence told me to walk on the grass...with the towel on my head, completly obscuring my view of where I was going.

 

Perhaps I was playing at looking like a ghost?  My arms were splayed out in front of me, I suppose, in an effort to protect me.

 

Perhaps I was trying to discipher where I was going by trying to see through the totally opaque towel? I'm guessing here.

 

The grass was cool and rewarded my intelligent decision to leave the unobstructed path of the sidewalk.  Cool grass on hot bare feet is amazing!

 

For some reason, which fails me at this moment, I was looking up, under the opaque, damp towel.

 

Suddenly, wham!, I hit the corner of a neighbor's brick house and cut open my chin (ask me sometime and I'll show you my scar).  Brilliant, right?  Immediately the towel came off and doubled as a sponge/bandage to stop the blood flowing (not trickling) from my chin.  I was caught between going home and getting help, or taking care of myself on my own. 

 

 If anyone had been watching me, perhaps they were laughing so hard, doubled over in fits of giggles, that it rendered them unable to give me aid.  In all likelihood, sane people were propped in front of their air conditioners taking naps to pass the heat of the day and not looking out their windows at a ridiculous child wandering around the grass with a towel on her head.

 

Pain is a motivator.  And, it motivated me to go home.  My sister came to my aid, while I endured her yelling at me and, quite possibly, calling me all sorts of unflattering names.  I probably should've gotten stitches.  By the time my parents came home, I was no longer bleeding and properly bandaged.

 

The passage in Proverbs tells us to stop walking around with a towel over our heads (really, look closer!).  The towel on my head was my immature understanding and self counsel.  God wants us to remove the towel of our own understanding, and follow Him.  Trust Him.  Wait on Him to make our lives take the paths He's planned for us.

 

What towel is over your head right now?  What crazy, ridiculous thing/person/activity is drawing your attention away from God and onto your own understanding?

 

For some of you it is a complete focus on getting a boyfriend/girlfriend.

For others it is chasing after the things of this world and not God.

For others it is making everything but God a priority in your life.

For all of us, it is anything we choose in place of putting God first and following Him.

 

What is the promise in verse 8? "It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones."  It's not too late!  Ask God to help you take off that towel obstructing you from following Him.

 

I hope to see you all at our Taco Night tomorrow night! 

 

Love in Christ,

--
Mary E.Hickcox
www.CalvaryBaptistSM.org
http://mary-neotes.blogspot.com/