Hanging clothes on the pulley clothesline.  A simple joy.  To my mind, it’s taking pleasure in anticipation of one more time of air dried clothes.  And it brings to mind an exclamation overheard by a young grandchild this summer “Yuck, you smell like outside!”  It’s all about perspective.  That one spends too much time indoors, glazed over staring at the screen of an electronic device perhaps.  It’s sunny, much cooler than it was last week, sitting here on the porch watching the sunrise.

As I hung clothes up I noticed an ant scurrying across the line to the pulley.  And my first though, how in the world did it get way up here from way down on the ground.  And the next thought…what a lot of mini miles put on those tiny 6 legs to get there.  There where it didn’t belong.  At least not in my way of thinking after knocking to the ground before even considering a more gentle eviction from my space.   Where it didn’t belong.

Then the thought…from where do these random thoughts arise?  Topic for another pondering time, later.  How great an exertion, an energy expenditure of sizable proportion, for that small creature to scale the lattice work from the ground, then to the porch floor, up the porch post, across the fixtures that hold the pulley over or under the pulley to the clothes line itself.  And for what purpose, I wonder?  Was it lost?  Do God’s creatures get lost?  We can sure lose our way.  Especially some of us, more than others!  (Personally, I have a record for the worst sense of direction on the planet…which I have to say is improving with age as I try hard to correct it)  Geographically we can certainly lose our way.  I suppose other of God’s creatures can too, recalling the homing pigeon we adopted once because it did get lost, landing on the roof of our barn.  Once they divert from their intended course to get home, they are no longer good for the keepers to use for competition.  They are excluded, given up, “do what you want with it”, they didn’t want it back. Yet another lesson….thankful God doesn’t discard or disregard me, when I stray.

The Lesson for me today….how often I seem to lose my way, divert my focus, readjust my perspective, abandon my goal to live intentionally and use up precious energy going places (geographically, mentally, emotionally) where I don’t belong!   Do you ever lose that sense of calm? That peace and rest that we can know when we are in good fellowship with our Creator God?  I am coming to the conclusion that for myself, I cannot judge for you, when unrest becomes my place of residence, even briefly, I can directly look at it as a consequence of scaling the heights of the lattice work of some event or circumstance for which I have assumed responsibility that is not mine to own.  Climbing the post to gain a perch atop a line where I do not belong.  I may choose even to walk that tightrope, engaging in a balancing act that leads to anywhere but where I belong.

A very short conversation from yesterday comes to mind.  I cannot know the intent behind the question, but I can tell you that the red flags of caution were flying high when someone asked me “Well, do you think we’ll have an “event” today like 9/11?”  (we were commemorating that horrific event of 2001 with a special service that evening at church)  I pondered that invitation to worry and fret but not very long.  I am choosing a positive viewpoint, and my response was…”Aren’t you glad God is in control?”  A feeble reaction to my statement, “well, I considered where I work, where I’d be, a 3 story cement building, and that’s a lot of cement.  I wouldn’t want to be buried under it”

I think that was an example of working hard to get to a place we didn’t belong.  Fretfulness and what if’s have no place in the mind of one who declares they have trust in the Eternal Salvation God has provided through His Son.  If He created us, ( I believe He did) and can save us, (I believe He does)  surely He can masterfully carry out His plan for our lives as we put our trust in Him.  My thought is, when I were doing that next right thing in my life to bring Him honor and glory, and if some “event” occurred to cause my life to end….I would be in Eternity with Him.  I can think of worse places to be.  Like someplace I worked hard to be, where I did not belong.

Rom 5:1,2    1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: 2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.