Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: Illustrate the meaning of “A Stitch in Time Saves Nine” (without using the actual phrase or literal example). (01/03/08)
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TITLE: Feeble Folk and the Power of Purpose | Previous Challenge Entry
By Debi Derrick
01/10/08 -
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But they are exceedingly wise:
The ants are a people not strong,
Yet they prepare their food in the summer;
The rock badgers are a feeble folk,
Yet they make their homes in the crags;
The locusts have no king,
Yet they all advance in ranks;
The spider skillfully grasps with its hands,
And it is in kings’ palaces.
Proverbs 30: 24-28 (NKJ)
Every homeowner should have a copy of “The Money Pit,” a 1986 comedy movie starring Tom Hanks and Shelley Long. They play Walter Fielding and his wife, Anna, who buy their dream home. There is just one tiny problem. The apparently fabulous dream home turns out to be in serious need of repairs.
For everything Walter and Anna try to fix, something else breaks. The not-so-simple act of filling the bathtub in anticipation of a much-needed soak, ends up soaking a downstairs room. A staircase collapses under Walter. And the kitchen’s wiring is, well, “electrifying” as one reviewer put it. By the end of the movie the couple’s dream home has turned into nothing more than a hole in the ground surrounded by grassy lawn. In short, a very expensive pit!
You and I may have something in common with Walter and Anna Fielding. At one time or another, something has fallen down around our ears and we end up in a pit. Whether it’s the physical home in which we live, or the job we thought would take us to retirement, or the relationship we depended upon for self-esteem, the dream we thought would be ours has, in time, turned to dust and disappointment.
One thing is certain. Long before the house falls into pieces something was already going very wrong. Perhaps it was shoddy construction in the first place or repairs left undone.
None of us knows what the future may bring. But our manual for living, the Bible, gives us ways and ideas to avoid life’s pitfalls. One such passage is Proverbs 30:24-28 where lessons can be learned from the instincts God has placed among four of his creatures: ants, rock badgers, locusts and spiders.
First, the creatures in all these groups are in it together. Lone rangers don’t succeed. Not in nature, not in Christianity. We need each other.
Second, they start small and build from there. House spiders build tiny webs in tiny corners and before you know it, they are everywhere. If the first strand of the web is well-placed and strong, the web won’t unravel until you spot it and take the broom to it.
Third, they do what God designed them to do. He made ants busy creatures who constantly search for food; he made rock badgers to be cliff dwellers. He made locusts to swarm and spiders to spin.
And He made man to love and to worship.
When we come together in relationship with one other, building our lives step by step on the strong foundation of Jesus Christ, each day reflecting more of the Father’s glory, life takes on meaning and purpose.
Best of all, we discover the pit is not so deep; the weave of life does not unravel so easily and, always, there is hope.
“A habit of devout fellowship with God is the spring of all our life and the strength of it.” – Henry Edward Manning.
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