Wanting

Early Thursday morning turned out to be rather musical while I walked my usual route. The air was fresh and clean, the sun lifting its covers to give generous amounts of warmth and golden beauty. As I basked in nature with very little interruption from vehicles, my ears noticed a distant sputtering and clanging. The clanks grew closer and closer, and an object came into view, traveling in the opposite direction. Still uttering the strange noises, it crept and crawled, dancing and twisting as it jumped about, displaying its reggae-style dance moves. As the old burgundy passenger van faltered, now directly in my view, I could see the culprit—the left rear wheel. The rubber tire was in shambles. The rim, now dismantled, crooked, and bent, rocked along, providing the heavy metal music as it hit the asphalt.

Old Faithful’s body, patched, dented, scraped, and bruised, danced and pranced as it moved along, sometimes bouncing six inches above the road.

The driver continued to steer his van as safely as he could. I assumed he was trying to reach a tire shop. The closest one lay about a mile away.

I watched the battered and worn-out rim yell and yell in agony as it left its marks on the road. Only three wheels were carrying the load on this poor lopsided vehicle.

One member of the wheel family was completely gone. The rim could not be straightened; there was no wheel, no tire, and no air. It needed life support immediately—cardiopulmonary resuscitation to its left rear wheel.

As the driver continued down the road in search of a wheel, tire, rim, and help, I reflected on the object lesson in front of me. Are any members of our body, family, or church missing or bent out of shape? What are we doing to reclaim our missing friends? And what about us? Are our lives without air? Are we filled with scratches and bruises? Are we in agony? What marks are we leaving? What marks have we left? We all need the One who restores and makes all things new. He gives us purpose. If we try to continue with missing parts, we will not function optimally. Do we recognize where we are wanting? Jesus can fully restore today. He wants to because He knows that no one can replace you or me.

Let us come to Jesus. Only He can supply all we need.

Pauline A. Dwyer-Kerr