What are you in the middle of right now?
Today I am in the middle of recovering from some semblance of the flu.. well maybe past the middle and closer to the three quarters mark.
Today I am in the middle of this Fourth Grade school year... well, maybe a little past the middle. We are in school approximately nine and one half months. We have three and one half months to go.
Today I am 52 years old.... am I in the middle of my life... only the Lord knows, but statically speaking, I am (gulp) past the middle of that mark, too.
So, I really am chronologically in between my two sisters.... the proverbial middle child. My memories don't seem to always agree with that of my sisters when I tout the fact that I was always the peacemaker. I do seem to remember the time that my older sister made me extremely mad, and it made "peaceable" sense to me that I chase her around my grandmother's front yard with a handful of poison ivy. What does occur to me as "fitting" is that fact that I was covered with poison ivy for weeks, and she escaped without a "scratch". :)
So where else am I the middle? Priscilla Shirer, in her Gideon Bible study, reminds her readers that no matter our age, we are all in the middle of other women. In one exercise she encouraged her participants to answer this question: "Who are some younger people that you can be intentional about teaching?" It took me about 60 seconds to name over 20 people - including my four children, my three grandchildren, my two son-in-laws, ladies in our Sunday School class, several of my children's friends, several co-workers... all of a sudden, I had listed almost 50! Then I turned the other direction... to those who are older than me. I quickly listed mother and mother-in-law, then the list begin to grow ... 40 names in a minute...
So back up a little... one person at time. Would you think right now of one or two people that are behind you, that are walking where you have already walked? Would you consider how your word of encouragement might spur them along? Then would you think of one or two people that have already walked where you are passing now? Would you consider the wealth of wisdom you have available to you through those dear friends? The wisdom flows freely when we ask.
Just think on it...
And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds... Hebrews 10:24
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