Looking In The Window: Stuck

   

      I carried the blue canvas stadium chair to the beach and planted it in the deep, white sand. A baby lizard lay in the seat. My husband, Rick, flipped it out with his hand and turned around to set up his chair. Tail and all, the tiny creature measured only one to one-and-a-half inches. It writhed in the grained earth.

     Bright sunshine lit up the spring day, but the shore felt chilly to my bare feet. He must be cold. I stared at the lizard. His little arms and legs so thin; his fingers, like short pieces of thread, wiggled frantically. “Now you’ve done it.”

     Rick sat down.

     “He can’t travel on the beach,” I said.

     Rick stood. Using his foot, he scooped up a large amount of sand with the lizard atop it. He took several steps, and the sand filtered to the ground, so he flicked off the lizard and repeated the process. At first the little reptile squirmed as though he tried to escape. But after a while lay very still while Rick moved him. At last Rick reached the fence in front of the dunes, where sea oats and vines grew. But the foot patrol wouldn’t work here.

     “I’ll get a piece of a vine and put it up to the lizard. He can grab hold of it,” I said.

     Rick raised his dark eyebrows. “You can try.”

     I poked a stem at the lizard’s feet. He lay like a stone. I tried again and got the same result. Finally, on the fourth attempt the lizard wrapped those tiny legs and arms around the vine and held on tight. I threw him over the fence into a patch of greenery. As far as I know, he’s enjoying his new home.

     I sometimes feel stuck like that lizard. I’m over-burdened and bogged down, often with problems or unpleasant situations. Like the lizard, I turn this way; then, that way, trying to escape. My mind spins so fast thinking of possible solutions, but I get nowhere. I think if I just work a little harder, I can handle things. Eventually, I’m physically and emotionally exhausted. But I’m still writhing around in the sand. I don’t find relief until I ask for God’s help. He is my lift and my lifeline.

Matthew 7:  7-8, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.”