Carpenter’s Corner: Cares of the world

Have you ever watched a col­umn of ants as they toil to carry food back to their nest? They are focused to their task of col­lecting food for the rest of the larger body of ants. They follow the ants that are in front of them over sticks, ravines and through whatever matter the leader has stepped. Yes, they follow their leader wherever it may go; not neglecting their task until it is completed.

When an obstacle falls in its way, the ants take but a small de­tour around it and continue with their task. If you were going to make a slogan for them to chant it would have to be “All for one and one for all!” although I don’t see them dressed up in puffed French sleeves or wearing long feathered felt hats. The point is, they follow their leader, work harmoniously with one another and do not let obstacles which are put in their way deter them from completing what they started out to do.

Look at the bees that have been so busy this spring with all the wonderful rainfall that has fallen. God makes the rainfall to fall on both the righteous and the wicked. It has watered and brought so many roses to bloom in my garden. In one corner of my garden a star jasmine’s ex­quisitely fragrant blossoms draw us to inhale their breath­taking aroma. May I encourage you to stop and smell the flow­ers, it might just change a frown into a smile.

As a general building contrac­tor I have built several houses from the ground up,

Added on several additions to homes and remodeled many kitchens and baths. When I built my own home in 1993 a small group of cliff swifts or swallows decided to construct their own homes under the eaves of my garage. These birds, like the ants never deter from their mis­sion to build mud nests, lay eggs and bring another generation of swallows into the world.

Each year they fly from Ar­gentina, in South America, to my humble home in Alpine. We have welcomed them from the start and enjoy their arriv­al each year and are saddened when they leave to return to their winter home down south. What do all these insects and birds have in common? They follow the leader, work harmo­niously with one another and do not let obstacles which are put in their way deter them from ac­complishing their task.

So often the cares of this world drag us down, distracting us from our relationship with God. The apostle Paul wrote, to the Corinthian church in his first letter to them, about all sorts of things that were dis­tracting the church. The body of believers in Corinth should have been focused on God, His work and their relationship with Him. Unfortunately, the cares of the world were an obstacle in front of them that choked out the word in their church and in their own lives.

Jesus told a story of a man who went out to sow seed. Some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them. Some seed fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immedi­ately sprang up and withered because they had no depth of earth. Some seed fell among the thorns; which when they grew chocked them out. But some seed fell on good ground and grew and yielded a crop; some a hundredfold, some sixty and some thirty.

So the seed by the wayside is the natural man who cannot know the things of the Spirit of God because he does not have the Spirit of God living inside him. The seed that fell on the rocks is the man who receives the word with joy but has no earth, no foundation and when trials and tribulation come he falls away. The seed that fell among the thorns is the man who allows the cares of this world to deter him from completing the task, to derail him from accomplishing, pro­ducing fruit for the kingdom of God.

But the seed that fell on deep, well watered earth that had plenty of sun shine was the man or woman who followed their leader, their master and crossed the finish line. They did not allow obstacles to deter them from reading their bibles, pray­ing to their Heavenly Father or loving others. This kind of seed produces fruit. Some more than others but at least they are all obedient to follow their Master’s commands.

So as the ants continue to trail through our gardens, flow­ers continue to bloom and bees continue to pollinate these trea­sures, let us allow God’s word to transform our stony hearts, be­ing obedient to follow, allowing Him to produce fruit through us, for His kingdom.