I love the month of October – a season of harvest and trees changing color, cooler temperatures and anticipating winter that brings a quiet dying in nature and stillness in preparation for new life to come in the spring. In driving through the countryside you can observe the fields that have been cleared, the silos filled, and the barns ready to provide storage and shelter from winter winds.
All that reminds me of an article called “Lord, Prop Us Up” that I have cherished for many years, and I share it with you here that you might be blessed.
“Every time I am asked to pray, I think of the old deacon who always prayed, ‘Lord, prop us up on our leanin’ side.’ After hearing him pray that prayer many times, someone asked him why he prayed that prayer so fervently. He answered, ‘Well sir, you see, it’s like this … I got an old barn out back. It’s been there a long time; it’s withstood a lot of weather; it’s gone through a lot of storms, and it’s stood for many years. It’s still standing.
But one day I noticed it was leaning to one side a bit. So I went and got some pine poles and propped it up on its leaning side so it wouldn’t fall. Then I got to thinking about that and how much I was like that old barn … I’ve been around a long time. I’ve withstood a lot of life’s storms. I’ve withstood a lot of bad weather in life, I’ve withstood a lot of hard times, and I’m still standing too.
But I find myself leaning to one side from time to time, so I like to ask the Lord to prop us up on our leaning side, ‘cause I figure a lot of us get to leaning at times. Sometimes we get to leaning toward anger, leaning toward bitterness, leaning toward hatred, leaning toward cussing, leaning toward jealousy, leaning toward gossip, leaning toward a lot of things that we shouldn’t …
So we need to pray, ‘Lord, prop us up on our leaning side so we will stand straight and tall again, to glorify the Lord.’”
October may be a good time to take stock of what needs to die and what needs to be stored away for future use … and what our daily posture looks like – just in case we are leaning a bit in the wrong direction. Then we can ask our Lord to fortify us and help us give glory and gratitude to our Creator each day.