Three Strands

             Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken. (Ecclesiastes 4:12)

 

            This is the verse I planned to share yesterday, and I’m still not sure I’m ready to address it today. It’s not hard to discuss, but the past few days have been such a failure. Part of the failure is precisely the absence (in my own mind!) of what this verse talks about. I told someone else that I’d really like a knight in shining armor, or a masked man on a white horse to show up – and clean and organize the trailer and read and love my books. You know – to make everything all better.

            Of course, if such a mythical being showed up, I’d be horribly embarrassed and more suspicious of his reaction to my books. After all, wish fulfillment of that sort tends to negate the likelihood of honesty. But the wish itself gives some indication of the failure of my thinking. Because I’m sure there have been people praying for me, and as I said yesterday, Jesus and I had a good talk. So, I’m not alone. I’ve talked to people, and they do care.

            But I whine on. One of my goals for 2023 is to stop focusing on “I can’t.” But all I’m thinking about now is how much I can’t do. Especially that I can’t sing. The idea was that when I hit an “I can’t” I would follow it up with “but I can.” So “I can’t sing, but I can pray…” but what I pray about is how miserable I feel and the fact that I can’t sing, and everything else that isn’t as I want it.

            But all of that, as normal and natural as it may be when one is sick, isn’t the direction we need to move to make 2023 a positive year. And the thought that comes immediately to mind is being the second who can defend and the third strand that makes the cord hard to break. Yes, we need to find our second who will help us defend ourselves, and our third strand that makes the cord hard to break, but more importantly, we need to be that person in the lives of others. And, we need to be more conscious of that third strand – the Lord, Himself. He has promised to never leave us or forsake  us, and we need to trust Him in that.