Matthew's feet do not come close to reaching the brakes or the clutch of this old tractor and he is sitting on the edge of the seat to reach the steering wheel. there is no way he is big enough to drive the old 560 out of the shed. He needs some help.
When Matthew was 2 and 3 years old he thought water was a solid. He would walk right off the edge of a pool into the water. He would float with just the top of his head above the water. Several times I had to jump into a pool and pull him out. Then I would spread out everything I had in my pockets and wallet to dry.
It would have made my life a lot easier if he had waited till I was ready to swim and was stripped down to my swimming trunks, so I could hold him up and help him enjoy the water. That is a lesson I am still trying to learn. Wait for God and He will hold you up and keep you from drowning in a job that is way to big to do on your own.
It's a hard pull if you are trying to do all the work yourself and everyone else is dead weight. I often try to do all the pulling myself instead of relying on fellow believers to help pull the load.
If the load is heavy and the job is too big God uses others to help push the load while you pull.
Those who are capable give a ride to the smallest and soon you are all moving forward.
In the church we can drink alone and miss out on the fellowship that comes from a job shared and everyone drinking at the fountain.
Or we can help others drink and realize the joy of helping and giving.
We can make sure everyone gets a drink of the water of life. Cooperation and working together selflessly to insure everyone is sharing the joy of serving God in Shalom should be my goal. The Hebrew word Shalom means; a rich state of affairs in which natural needs are satisfied and natural gifts are fully employed. That is my goal for the community of believers. It will be a lot easier to get there if I rely on God to be greater and bigger than I am and wait till he is ready to act. It will also be a lot easier if I work in cooperation with my fellow believers to move toward that goal.
