I cannot get my mind to settle this morning, to stay focused and move on. It drifts here and there, running in circles, trying to pull me away from what I'm intent on doing. Those of you who've had a dog may know the type of behaviour I'm talking about. Not playfulness, not mischeivious, but the "come, come, let me show you" - darting off, coming back, circling, darting, coming back - that leads you eventually where it wants you to be. It's always, to see, or to do.
Today, my mind will not allow me to move ahead. It circles, yelps, darts off when I try to lead it along. Moving when I force it, but always darting back toward the thing it wants me to see.
What I'd missed in yesterday's quiet time. Back to Luke 6:47, when we should have been moving ahead in chapter 7. Of course I thought, I don't need to go back there, I know that story. You know it too, lay a good foundation and you can withstand the onslaught of life. Why go back there? What was I missing?
Oh, of course, "listens to my words and puts them into practice." (Luke 6:47b NET) No, that wasn't it. I still got pulled back. What then? When I allowed it to happen, the stopping where I was led and the waiting, watching - have you ever notice how when you're waiting and watching eventually you start thinking deeply (maybe, it's just a "guy thing" - the let's get it done, move on mentality - that doesn't allow for deep thinking). No, it was the "...who dug down deep..." (Luke 6:48b NET) that I was supposed to "see".
One of the first job's I ever had was working for a small contractor and we were doing site work (moving earth, preparing the site for building) and my job was to prepare the footing trench. With a shovel. By hand. And it wasn't easy. It was "back breaking work". I went home every night exhausted, fell into bed, and slept soundly.
So, today we miss an important part of that message because we don't know or think about what those words, dug down deep, meant to early believers. Yes, hearing God's word and putting it into practice is an important part of it, but it's the hard labor of digging down deep, by hand, moving tons of earth by hand, leveling the ground, by hand, getting dirty, sweaty, exhausted, keeping at while the blisters form, pop, bleed, heal and your hands strengthen, become fit for the work they're doing - and you become skilled in weilding the word. Then you're prepared to lay a solid foundation. To build upward.
