Fences Humble a Person

 

 On a day when Jonathan was working at home instead of for SIM, he decided to accompany me up through the fields for a walk to the mailbox.

Of course, our dog came with us. 

It was not always easy finding our way where snow wasn't so deep it would sift into our boots, and we sort of forgot about fences that had been put up.

There were no gates. To get to the mailbox, we had to either high jump over the fence or roll underneath it.

I, in my late fifties or not, chose to do the rolling stunt!

 

Well, Jonathan, who is also in his late fifties, doesn't have quite such an easy time of rolling under fences as I do.

He stood there surveying whether he could somehow squeeze between the barbed wires or not.

He could not, he decided, without taking certain risks!  So, big man that he was, down he got, and crawled under the fence.

(I told him these pictures may or may not go in my blog!) 

But somehow this having to get down low to get to the other side of the fence reminded me of when Jesus told His disciples that except a man humble himself as a little child, he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.

It's like there's a fence around the kingdom of heaven, and you can't just trot in with all your pride and self-righteousness and sins and other baggage.

 

If you want to enter heaven, you have to humble yourself. 

You have to get down low and repent and turn to Christ.

You have to let go of your sins, just like I laid down my bag of mail before I could scoot under the fence.

Once we had humbled ourselves to get under that fence, we could set off through the beautiful snow. 

We could finish our walk in the beauty of God's creation, admiring the beauties of prairie and hill in South Dakota, 

worshiping our Maker and Lord.

We weren't about to let a fence stop our walk, even if we did have to feel a little silly.

And we can't let our self-righteousness or sin keep us from getting down before God and asking Him for pardon and mercy.

He wants to forgive us and walk with us and help us.

He wants us to walk in the light and sunshine with Him.

If we will humble ourselves, He will make our sins, which were scarlet, as white as snow. How those snow and ice crystals did sparkle in the sunshine! It was just beautiful!