Lanita
Bradley Boyd
And whatever you do, whether
in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God
the Father through him.
(Colossians 3:17, NIV)
As Jerry entered the
classroom, I looked in astonishment at his battered face.
His nose was scraped and bruised, forehead and chin a mass of scabs.
"What on earth happened to you?" I asked.
"I was running with my
hands in my pockets and couldn't catch myself when I fell," he answered
sheepishly.
I just laughed and hugged
him, realizing he was getting enough grief about it from his classmates.
But his statement stayed with me. I
think that we often “keep our hands in our pockets,” whether it’s in our
writing lives, our work lives, or our personal lives.
Our body parts work
together to protect us. No amount
of praying for God’s help will save us if we don’t even do what we’re
enabled to do. Keeping our hands in
our pockets is not allowing our hands the freedom to reach out and protect us as
we fall. In like manner, not
following through on commitments demonstrates a lack of responsibility to do our
part.
For one thing, I know many
people who say they’ve always wanted to write but they never get around to it.
I hear these same people discussing
at length what they’ve watched on television.
There is just the time they need to be writing—to get their ideas on
paper, at least, to determine whether or not they are worth sharing.
Also, writing and not
submitting what you write is a great example of keeping your hands in your
pockets. It takes courage to work
on a piece and finally send it off to the hard, cold evaluation of an editor,
knowing that rejection could be rearing its discouraging head.
But no piece was ever accepted that wasn’t submitted.
Start a chart on your computer entitled “Article Submission Sheet.”
Label the columns by date, article, magazine or book submitted to, and
decision. Then look over your
written pieces and pick out the one that will be first on your list.
At our jobs, we may want to
advance to another position but lack the initiative to show that we are capable
of more responsibility. As
Christians, our humility can be balanced by the confidence we have in Christ
Jesus. We must step forward in
faith, trusting Him for all good things.
Jerry foolishly kept his hands in his pockets
as he ran, and we do the same in many parts of our lives, even though we know
God should be in charge. Instead of
using him to maintain balance in our lives, we rush headlong, keeping our
faithless hands in our spiritual pockets, and then wonder why we fall.
We arise battered and bruised and question why God would let such a thing
happen to us. It's only by keeping our arms of faith out to receive God's
guidance and goodness that we can maintain the life balance that we need.
Inspired!
