I Can Fix This

I love the story about the enthusiastic young plumber who took one look at Niagara Falls and said, "hmmm, I think I can fix this". Lately, I am pretty sure that is what I have been trying to do. I have been looking at the broken areas of my life, my family, my calling and saying, "I think I can fix this." The problem is, whatever fixing I have been up to on my own has been merely a quick fix. It's like fixing an airplane with duct tape. As great as duct tape is, if you try to fix an airplane with it, eventually that plane is gonna come down with a great crash. Maybe you can relate?

There's another story told by Brennan Manning in his book, The Ragamuffin Gospel, which I highly recommend. Manning credits the story to Morton Kelsey. In the story, a man on a journey comes to the edge of an abyss. As he wrestles with what to do next, he is amazed to notice a tightrope stretched across the abyss. Slowly but surely, he sees an acrobat creeping along on the tightrope pushing a wheelbarrow with another performer in it. When they finally reach solid ground, the acrobat smiled at the man's amazement. "Don't you think I can do that again?" he asked. The man replied, "Why yes, certainly I believe you can." The acrobat asked the man again to be sure the answer would be the same. When it was, he pointed to the wheelbarrow and said, "Good! Then get in and I will take you across."

Here's the thing. I don't want to fix my life with duct tape. I want to be fixed by the grace and power of my Lord. He is the only one I trust to push me along the tightrope of life in my own little wheelbarrow. I have discovered that when I struggle with where God has put me, I cannot patch that struggle up with duct tape. Instead, I have to patch it up with belief in the only one that can fix it from the inside out. As Paul says, "I have learned the secret of being content in whatever the circumstances... I can do all things through Him who strengthens me" (Philippians 4:11, 13). You could translate that a bit differently: "I can do all things through Him who pushes the wheelbarrow". It's scary, but better than duct tape.