Symbolic Sidewalk

Over the last couple months, my wife and I decided to pour a sidewalk from the front porch of our house to the driveway.  We looked at the costs of having someone do it for us vs. doing the work ourselves.  We ultimately decided to become concrete masons.  We went to the home improvement store and bought 20 bags of concrete to get started.  I got to work mixing and pouring the first and largest section of the sidewalk.  We soon realized that the initial 20 bags were not going to get us very far on this large of a project.  So while I worked, Jess ran back to the store and purchased another 20 bags of concrete and the right tools to make the job easier.

While she was gone, I mixed, poured and worked 600 pounds of concrete.  The more tired, the more I could hear God talking to me.  By the time she got back with the second load, I had developed a sense of joy that could only be explained as a blessing.  The more I worked on the sidewalk, God made it very clear to me that I should name my project.  The phrase “symbolic sidewalk” kept coming to the forefront of my mind.  So I started calling it my symbolic sidewalk.  When Jess got back I had to explain the thoughts that were running in my head.  Most of the time my thoughts scare her but not that day, they made perfect sense.

 

I explained to here that the sidewalk is a metaphor to our lives.  It is not straight, it is not completely smooth, and it was not laid by an expert, but it is functional.  Now you ask how is that a metaphor to our lives. Let me explain.  God doesn’t call us to be perfect.  He does not need us to be completely straight and smooth.  And He definitely doesn’t need us to be the experts.  What he does need us to be is functional.  He will equip with the right tools to make the job easier.  God will use whatever we have to direct people home, if we will allow Him to form us.

 

God has used some of the most inadequate people to accomplish His plan.  The Bible is full of men and women that had no business being in charge of anything, but they lead others to God.  Moses had speech problems, Mathew was a despised tax collector and Paul, who was Saul, all had issues that God used to lead people.  They all had rough edges and none of them were an expert on God.  God equipped them to accomplish the tasks they were called to do.  They all became functional things in the paths of so many people.

So after mixing and pouring approximately 3400 pounds of concrete to create a walk way to my house, I’ve learned that I don’t have to be perfect.  I don’t have to know the Bible backwards and forwards to lead someone to God.  My rough edges will be smoothed out over time as I get used.  The biggest thing that I need to be is functional for God.  I have to be willing to accept whatever he calls me to be.  He will give me all the tools I need and He will direct my path as long as I’m willing to be used to glorify Him.