Fences

In the decade of the 50's, we were allowed to go Trick or Treating, accompanied by our parents.  This was a little difficult when we lived in the desert in a very, very small community.  Neighbors were not next door or just down the block.  But I had parents who drove us 2 hours over the El Cajon pass to the Los Angeles basin where our grandparents lived.  Their neighborhood was quite profitable for my brother and I when it came to knocking on doors and getting our treats!

One particular Halloween stands out above all others and makes me laugh even to this day!  I always liked to be a princess or something requiring a pretty dress.  This night my brother was a ghost with a sheet over him with slits cut for his eyes.  In the spooky darkness, we left our parents at street side as we sauntered up to the door.  Of course, as the girl and the oldest, I got my candy first and ran back to my parents.  Brian grabs his candy, hops off the porch and hollers, "Wait for me!"  A six year old does not always consider the consequences of deviating from the path.  Brian did not use the sidewalk and driveway to return to the street where we were waiting.  He ran as fast as his little legs could with his sheet flapping and slipping, straight across the yard.  He abruptly collided with a chicken-wire fence across the front of the yard!  He literally bounced off the chicken-wire and fell prone on the ground!  Apparently the slits for his eyes moved and he could not see where he was going!  Of course, we laughed hysterically as he lays crying!  I am laughing even now as I write this!  (Don't worry - he was not hurt!)

This story I have used for a devotional for our church monthly devotional so I will add my thoughts here as well.

Think about the different paths that have meandered into your life.  Some were God directed paths, some were tantalizingly appealing but meant only for self-pleasure and some were ordinary paths, all of which were not God's path for you.  We all have no doubt taken the path we desired, not considering the consequences if it wasn't God's path.  Watch out!  God has His own "chicken-wire fence" that you will hit head on and you will be picking yourself up off the ground. God gives us a free will but He is still in control.  His deep eternal love desires our obedience to His life path and therefore, He sometimes allows abrupt stops to pop up.  We need to pick ourselves up, change direction and choose His joyful, enduring path.

Psalms 25:4  "Show me thy ways, O Lord; teach me thy paths."
Proverbs 3:5,6  "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding.  In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct they paths."