Schlepping along

My tasks that day included weeding—something I really didn’t want to do. So I put on my don’t-be-seen-in-public “work duds” and began my close encounters with a long, fence-line flower bed. Soon, my bucket was brimming with weeds, so I pushed my tired body off the ground, and schlepped my way to the garbage bin. That’s your word for the day: schlep.  It’s from a Yiddish word meaning “to drag,” and in English it’s come to mean “to move slowly, with difficulty or unwillingly.”

For several hours I scooted alongside this notoriously weedy fence line to dig and pull invaders.  It doesn’t help that an empty, weedy lot is on the other side of the fence. By the time I’d dumped the last bucketful in the garbage, I collapsed in a heap by the couch (I was too filthy to sit on it) and downed a glass of water. 

I thought of other times I’d schlepped through life’s exhausting “stuff.” Facing homelessness and joblessness (and God’s amazing, just-in-time provision). The huge task of emptying homes of parents after their deaths. Seeking harmony in difficult relationships. Being a victim of injustice. Fulfilling a commitment beyond what I perceived as my limitations. Did I mention letting God do some “weeding” of bad stuff in my heart?

At such times I experienced the hope of “enabling grace.”

Like Paul described: “God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work” (2 Cor. 9:8). I tend to read that, “so that most of the time you’ll survive.”  But no—that stout word “all” reminds me God’s work is done in His strength.

Paul learned that principle in a wretched classroom, a filthy First Century prison. Yet even from its dirt, debris and discouragement, he proclaimed, “I can do everything through him who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:13). Instead of giving up, he gave it to Jesus.

Okay, I admit it.  When doing mindless tasks like weeding, I do a lot of thinking. As I seek to uproot (or at least slow down) the encroachment of various weeds whose names I don’t even know, I think of how God looks at this sin-choked world.

How grateful I am that He gives us this hope:  this isn’t how it will always be. Someday He will return and end all that is wicked and fallen, making it new again. As Isaiah saw it: “Instead of the thorn bush will grow the pine tree, and instead of briers the myrtle will grow.  This will be for the Lord’s renown, for an everlasting sign, which will not be destroyed” (Isaiah 55:13).

No more schlepping, either!

P.S. Warm and grateful greetings to readers around the world. The program that operates this blog tells me the countries (but not the individual addresses) that are accessing my blog. Most of you live in the U.S. but others (in order of frequency this past month) visited from Germany, Russia, United Kingdom, Brazil, Belarus, France, South Korea, Malaysia, Poland and Portugal. Knowing your diverse backgrounds (including those who might know some Yiddish, as per today's post!) reminds me that our Lord's messages are for all cultures. I am thankful when you share these blog posts with others, for my motivation is to honor Jesus and help us all in our journeys of faith.