Assembly Instructions

     As I ponder how this wonderful shade tree I sit beneath came to be,  I envision a plan of how it was planted.  Most instructions describe digging a large hole, much larger than the size of the pot the tree is growing in, and then filling the hole with rich, good soil, followed by a good supply of water.  If the right instructions are followed the tree will be nurtured, and the root system will grow deep and strong.  It will survive the storms of life; the trunk will bend with the winds, but it will always return to its natural state.     

     What really brought the thought of how we handle instructions to my mind happened earlier in the week when a friend was showing me her Ipad and all the things it could do.  It was really amazing, and I was soaking it all in when she said, “The only bad thing about learning how to use it is that it did not come with instructions.”  Well, for me that was not good.  “No instructions?” I thought.  Surely there must be a “help” button somewhere!  For someone not born in the computer age, to have no instructions was just as alarming as it would have been had I not had any instructions growing up.

      Instructions are a natural way of life.   We are given instructions from the time we are born.  We are given instructions by our parents at home and by our teachers at school.  Hopefully they are good ones, and, hopefully, we listen and learn.  In fact, instructions come with all kinds of products that have to be assembled.  There are some people who neglect the instructions and simply put the product together by trial and error.  Then there are others who spread out the instructions and study them before attempting the assembly process.

     However, our best instructions were written many, many years ago.  The words were inspired by the greatest Author of all time.   They are instructions for living life.  When we study and apply the instructions in the Holy Bible we can rest assured that we will be planted correctly.  We will be nurtured; our roots will grow deep, and we will grow strong; even stronger than the roots of my “friendly shade tree.”

     Are you one who throws the instructions away and assembles life by trial and error?  Or are you one who reads, studies, and applies the words of wisdom that will help you achieve inner peace and strength through the journey?  Does your Instruction Manuel for life lay covered in dust or is it soft and worn from wear?  

     The instructions found in the Word of God will cleanse, strengthen, teach, comfort, guide and direct.  They will keep you strong when life seems to unravel around you.

     Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.  Psalm 119:105