Up a Tree on Friday the 13th

Right now, on this Friday the Thirteenth residents of my street do not have to worry about getting crossed by a black cat.  Why? Because we own the neighborhood’s black cat, and currently he is stuck high up in a tree.

That cat is a climber!  It takes him no time at all to paw his way skyward, but once he gets there he realizes that there is no where to go but down, and there he will he sit frozen in fear on a small branch.  While he was clawing his way to the top he had no worries! That is, until he is hit with the frightening realization that there is nothing but a thin, brittle branch between him and the cold, hard ground so far below.  And there my cat sits for hours.

With the economy is such a state of chaos, I have to say I feel just like that cat right now.  Matt and I have built our family home, climbing up our prospective ladders in our professional fields of work.  For many oblivious years, we focused only on the upward climb to the pinnacle of our respective careers.  But here we are with the markets frozen and clients on hold, we realize that there is nothing but a thin, brittle branch of assignments to keep us from hitting the cold, hard ground below.

Or is there?

Actually, there is something else holding our family right now.  Something so much stronger than a brittle branch that can snap with our bodily weight.  The Bible reminds us that God Himself is holding us up.  He promises to provide for His children on a daily basis.

So Matt and I are discovering what daily manna is all about.  There was a time with the work was plentiful and we thought we were safe in the knowledge that we had a year’s worth of work lined up on our project lists. Not so, these days!  No, we are finding that we are forced to rely every single day on God’s provision.  We can no longer gather assignments up to store away for a rainy day, they are scarce and that rainy day is here.

I have never been dropped by God.  Not once. I have never slipped through His awesome fingers to hit the ground below.  Even when faced with situations that looked dismally hopeless, in Him I found redemption.  Even more so, some of the most wonderful lessons that I have learned have been when I have passed through dark nights, only to reemerge in the dawn with a renewed knowledge that God was faithful to His promises — all of them.  And even now, I know that we will be okay.

Now don’t worry about my cat.  He has finally found the courage to clawed his way back down the tree.  But I am certain that he will soon find himself in another sticky situation.  Our cat will forget about his fear of falling and again climb too high up a tree. It seems he never learns!  I hope, though, that I won’t forget my own lessons, and how God has always been faithful when I have been stuck in some situation that was too big for me to handle.

“Look at the birds of the sky: they don’t sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth more than they? Can any of you add a single cubit to his height by worrying? And why do you worry about clothes? Learn how the wildflowers of the field grow: they don’t labor or spin thread. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was adorned like one of these! If that’s how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, won’t He do much more for you—you of little faith?” (Matthew 6:25-30 HCSB)