Toil and Trouble!

My wife and I were talking about bubbles yesterday, foam bubbles on top of water. If you could shrink yourself small enough and get inside a bubble, when you stand on the bottom you are really standing on the top of the one underneath. Know what I mean?

Bubbles got me thinking about Carlsbad Caverns. We’ve been there as a family vacation. One of the biggest no no’s is getting off the path. Don’t know how to explain the size of these caverns to you, but many of them are big enough to house skyscrapers. Once in there, you are filled with the sense of awe at the hugeness of the holes in the ground. As it turns out, we were told (and shown) places where someone “found” a new cavern. They had gotten off the trail and fallen through the floor – which was the ceiling of a cavern below. Sometimes they had ropes tied on them, sometimes not. But it just goes to show you can’t judge what’s underneath just by looking at the surface, and things that seem solid from one perspective may be very shaky in reality. Carlsbad itself isn’t much to look at above ground. Some rolling, grass-covered hills with a fairly small cave mouth exposed in one spot. I suspect a farmer could have built a house there, planted crops, and been none the wiser if someone hadn’t been curious about that hole.

People are like a chunk of ground sometimes. They appear just fine on the surface. Are they solid? You can’t always tell when people have problems, you have to dig a little deeper than just a hello on Sunday morning. If we are to pray for one another, if we are to love and support one another, shouldn’t we try harder to know our brethren? And how do we do that? Here are some ideas that should be obvious!

There are people with small children who attend our services. For those of us who have kids more advanced, remember how you used to feel a bit overwhelmed? Remember how you might have wished kids, especially newborns, came with an instruction manual? Do you see our young parents doing well? Why not pray for them, and then let them know they are doing a good job? Do something!

There are those that are older in our congregation. Maybe they are getting nervous about passing on. Maybe they feel like they don’t matter, like the world is moving by at high speed while they are standing still. Don’t you think we should pray for them, and let them know we need their advice, admire their endurance, value their experience? Do it!

There are those who feel like outsiders, as if the other members leave them out of things. Do you find yourself inviting to dinner the same families over and over? Why not make a determined effort to spend time with everyone, especially those who you’ve never entertained before? Why not make time to accept invitations these same may make to you? I’m not saying to do it because it’s good for you, because you have to, because you feel guilty. And, I’m not saying it’s wrong for one family to feel close to another family. What I am saying is, let’s try harder to get closer to everyone! Do it because you love them! Don’t feel like you “love” everyone? Then maybe that’s where you should start!!! Pray for them, pray for yourselves, and do something about it!

Carlsbad was formed when water leached away the minerals and soil from underneath. If it continued as it was, one day the surface would have just caved in. We can help each other not have “holes” in our lives by helping each other stay on that one foundation that can’t be corroded. We can keep brethren from “caving in” by filling them up with genuine love and affection. Every bit we give to them, we give to ourselves at the same time! Think about it!

Galatians 6:9-10 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.

John 13:34-35 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

Romans 12:9-18 Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good. Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another; Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord; Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer; Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality. Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not. Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep. Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits. Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.

Romans 13:8-10 Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

I Thessalonians 3:12-13 And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you: To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints.

Peter I 1:22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently

John I 4:10-11 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.