Lessons on the Ladder

Our last house was all cedar shingles. So when we moved to a newer house with vinyl siding I was delighted. Of course, there is still the trim. Right now we are in the throes of painting the trim, which takes quite a bit of time, lots of paint, scraping, and , of course, the big mega, serious extension ladder. I intensely dislike standing on a sloping roof, and though I am not a great fan of heights, I can paint on an extension ladder. I can, but I am not very comfortable doing it.

Don’t look down, don’t look down…

So there I am painting the very highest peak on the house, maybe only 25 feet up. I take each rung one at a time, one foot on, the next foot on. I can not bound up the ladder as I do the stairs. The ladder shakes. As I am up there painting, twenty five feet closer to 94 degrees, I am pressed into the ladder so hard that the imprint of each rung is on my legs. I find it very difficult to let go of the ladder … I have to hold on to at least one side, which makes painting very cumbersome and time consuming. I just cannot stretch as far when I am gripping one side of the ladder.

About the third day of doing this, this clinging and hanging on for dear life, it occurs to me that clinging to the ladder probably does not make me any safer. The safety issue is pretty much determined as I, or my husband, as is usually the case, set up the ladder on level ground, test it, bang it against the house a few times, and find that the ladder is stable. The steadiness and sureness of the ladder is not in my clinging to it. The steadiness and sureness is in the set up and in the ladder itself. The fact is, I can be clinging hard to the one side of the ladder all the way down to the ground if the ladder isn’t steady and on level ground.

For sure, I FEEL better when I am clinging hard to that one side. I somehow FEEL that I am safer, or that I am more secure if I am hanging on.

Perhaps you have seen a child clinging to a parent during a thunder storm. Head burrowed into the parent’s shoulder. Arms wrapped so tightly around the neck it becomes hard to breathe. Eyes screwed shut. Until the storm is past. The fact is, the parent is holding onto the child. It is the parent holding the child, but the child is hanging on, clinging to the parent…for dear life. It does little good to say “there , there, you don’t need to choke me.” The child needs to do so, until the storm is past. I suspect, my children too felt better, safer, more secure in hanging on so tightly, in clinging to us during the storm. No amount of reason, rationale or logic could persuade them to let go. They needed to not only know the storm would pass, they needed to FEEL safe, secure, until the storm was past.

Sometimes, I just need to feel safe in the Lord. I know I am. I preach to others, and to myself, we are safe in the Lord. But, oh sometimes, I so need to FEEL that safety. And God is patient. Even though I am hugging Him so hard His divine face might turn blue, He won’t let me go, or try to give me logic and reason in place of the safety and security. He lets me cling so hard to Him that I wear the very imprint of His face on mine, I feel His arms around me tightly holding me, and I cling to His neck, because while I dislike walking up a high ladder, I can do it, all the way up, whistling all the way.

One other thing, by the fifth day, I could actually climb up to that peak, look down and think “wow, I’m pretty high” and then I could let go and hold two brushes, or the paint can if necessary. It was amazing to me. Not that I was confident in myself, I found my confidence in the ladder and the level ground on which it rested. I knew, even if I let go of the ladder, it was still bearing me.

Beloved, if you’re on a faith ladder right now, know that the ladder is secure, strong and will not fail you. The ladder, if resting on Jesus, is on a sure and steady foundation. Second, if you feel better clinging to the ladder, if you feel safer holding on tightly, rest assured He doesn’t mind…and besides, the tighter you cling to Him, the more you will bear the imprint of His face on yours.

Not bad for a summer lesson.