“If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.” (James 1:5-8)
The wild cat, who kinda calls our back yard his home base, slunk up to the birdbath ever so cautiously. He had one foot through the fence, then got the other through. There he was, straddling the fence so to speak.
He couldn’t quite reach the water. For a few moments he was stuck and couldn’t go either way. He never did get a drink, either, though he was able to wiggle back out.
The cat could have easily gotten to the water if he had gone around to the other side of the fence. Then with all four feet planted he would have been able to reach and had a drink from the birdbath.
One foot in and one foot out. Straddling the fence. Fence sitting. As I watched the animal, I was reminded of the book of James where it speaks of being double minded. At first I thought the passage sounded pretty harsh, but fence-sitting doesn’t get us anywhere but stuck.
With one foot in the world, and one in the Kingdom, it can be the double-minded thing. I haven’t gotten this one down yet, but that’s part of the journey, and something I continue to try to be more consistent with.
Thank you, Lord, for your help in growing us into having both feet firmly planted, instead of ‘one foot in’.
Sally I. Kennedy