There are times where we have someone, often a good friend, ready, able, and more than willing to help us with a problem. It is easy to see the reluctance, reservations, and pride when the person under the microscope isn’t your “self”, however that doesn’t make it any easier when the question sits at your doorstep. We think we need to do it on our own. We believe pride and reputation is at risk. We hold our arrogance as if it was more important than anything else that might be offered.
The obvious story is any man asking for directions. The one exception is my father; at some point in his life he got the “message” and now he asks as soon as he misses the first mark. He does not hesitate, there is no resistance, and anyone is a potential information source. Pride doesn’t enter the equation. Status is inverted to how long one waits; the shorter the time the more mature the individual.
I can vividly remember a neighbor facing the tough challenge of making firewood out of a very tall tree that fell in his backyard. The initial cuts with the chainsaw were complete; eighteen inch long round logs were scatters in a wavy line across the grass. The day was hot and muggy. As I arrived on the scene he was just starting to split the first log in a baker’s dozen. My casual offer to help was met with an equally casual, “I’ve got a handle on it.”
I didn’t say anything knowing a neighbor had an axe. Quietly leaving, I returned a short time later with my gloves on and an axe in hand.
How are the entrances to your soul? Are they being protected?
“At each gate stood an Angel, and on the gates were inscribed the names of the Twelve Tribes of the sons of Israel: three gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, three gates on the west.” (Revelation 21.12)
The offer is there and here. The answer is?
