One of my all-time favorite poems is William Stafford’s “The Way It Is.” I discovered this little gem in my life after I had made my commitment to follow Jesus. These words remind me that when I’m hanging by a thread, there’s only one thread I want to be clinging to – and that’s the hem of Jesus’s garment. And … by the way … and whether you know it or not … we’re always hanging by a thread!

           

Remember that great Gospel story about the woman who suffered for 12 years with bleeding. In Luke 8:43-48, after twelve years of suffering, this woman finds the gumption to make her way to Jesus, work her way through the crowd, desperately reach out her hand for something … anything … that might help her.

And her desperation and determination lead her to the hem of Jesus’s garment. The story tells us that as she touched the hem of His garment, Jesus felt power go out from Him, and the woman felt the power, instantly, go into her. Her healing began. She touched the thread of His garment, and her new life had begun.

 

I wonder what the thread that you’d never let go of would be. What is the one thing you cling to all the hours of your day – and all the days of your life? Is there one constant source of help you can count on every time? Who, or what, do you keep with you at all times, and never let go of?

Is your thread still of the world … or is it now of the Spirit? Have you yet surrendered your trust in yourself and your worldly things, and turned to God for your freedom?

It’s time to do that. This is Advent. A time of preparation, which gives all of us another chance to turn more of our life over to the One whose power is in that thread, on the hem, of His garment. Let Him be your thread. And no matter what happens … never let go of the thread.

 

“The Way It Is

 

There’s a thread you follow.                                                                 It goes among things that change.                                                          But it doesn’t change.

People wonder about what you are pursuing.

You have to explain about the thread.

But it is hard for others to see.

While you hold it you can’t get lost.

Tragedies happen; people get hurt

or die; and you suffer and get old.

Nothing you do can stop time’s unfolding.

You don’t ever let go of the thread.

 

~ William Stafford ~”

 

Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord!

And hold on to that thread!

Pastor Bob <><