THE SHEPHERD’S CORNER

We can certainly picture life as a straight line, where we move from Point A to Point B, from childhood to adulthood, etc.  However, we can also look at life as a circle; we begin by lying down, to sitting down, and later to walking down, then back to sitting down, and finally ending it by lying down.  This reality hit me these past two weeks as I see Santy’s father’s lying down in bed after his fall.  A former athlete—a basketball player—and a former salesman—who had to travel to places near and far—he is now confined to bed.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 gives us this sober reminder, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.”  There is time to walk down, there is time to sit down, and there is time to lie down.  We cannot—and are not meant to always—walk and sit all the time.  When the time comes for us to lie down, we have no choice but to accept it.  And, how difficult it is to lie down.

In his book, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction, Eugene Peterson illustrates the postures of God when He is blessing us: He stands, He stoops, and He stays.  Peterson explains that when God stands, He is “foundational and dependable.”  When God stoops, He “kneels to our level and meets us where we are.”  And, when God stays, He “sticks with us through hard times and good, sharing His life with us in grace and peace.”  When we are walking down, God stands with us, to give us charge and direction.  When we are sitting down, God stoops; He reaches down to us in low times.  And when we are lying down, He stays with us, sharing His grace and peace.

I am mindful of the fact that knowing all this does not necessarily make lying down easier; no, but knowing that He stays with us, sharing His grace and peace, does make it more meaningful.

Pastor Paul