Think Upward Not Outward
In July when I visited my parents, my Stepdad had just purchased a zero-turn mower. He had a problem though because his trailer was for a tractor style and it wasn’t wide enough for this new mower. I asked if he was going to buy a larger one and he said “No, I’ll just modify this one so it will fit.”
I found this to be odd because the side rails are integral to the stability of the frame. You can’t just cut them off and I couldn’t see how he would possibly get a 5’ mower deck to fit between 4’ rails. It didn’t seem possible to me.
Then I stopped at their house on our way back from Canada and I saw his mower trailer. He had built a wooden platform which sat on top of and bracketed to the metal rails. He had added wooden wheel ramps to go up to the eight inch or so higher platform.
Not only had he solved his problem to make the trailer accept his mower, but since it just bolts on, he can take it off whenever he wants to use the trailer for something else or if he wants to sell it in the future. That’s one smart cookie.
It occurs to me that a lot of times we find ourselves in problems here in this world and too often our inclination is to look around us and think “I need to change that. I need to cut those things out of the world. I need to get those things to be able to fit what I need done.”
Try as we might, however, there is no way we can get this 4’ world to fit a 5’ object. It just doesn’t work. We will wear ourselves out trying to get the world to fit our wants and needs. Problems will always assail us.
Mark 9:20-24. And they brought the boy to him. And when the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. And Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” And Jesus said to him, “‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.” Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!”
Mark 10:26-27. And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, “Then who can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.”
When problems in this life drop in our laps it is always a good idea to look upward first before we start looking outward at how to fix things. Lift it up to God in prayer and see what He does before you start to think that it just can’t be done.