…Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve… Joshua 24:15, NIV
Fence lines—not harmful insects or birds—are my nemesis in the garden. It is such a pain to keep them weed-free! As an organic gardener, I clean them out by hand weeding, not weed killer. In the spring and summer, this is intensive work.
This spring, one of my cucumber vines climbed up the fence line where it began to bloom and bear fruit. As I moved aside the large leaves one day, I saw a cucumber hopelessly stuck and growing into the fence, distorting its shape. It looked quite painful and uncomfortable. The only way I could harvest and use it was to break it.
Are you on the fence line in some area of your personal or professional life right now? Are you reaching beyond the boundaries established by yourself, your employer, or God? Perhaps this boundary is your diet and what you know you should and should not eat. Perhaps it is the number of hours you are spending on school work and maintaining a healthy balance between home and work. Perhaps you are in a fence line relationship with another person and just can’t decide whether to get in or out. Maybe God is calling you to a new grade level or position, but you don’t want to move, so you sit on the fence. Perhaps you are on the fence regarding some of God’s instructions about things such as taking a Sabbath day of rest or refraining from gossip, murmuring, and complaining.
Educators, beware of fence lines. Make every effort to keep the weeds out through confession and focusing on what God has told you to do. Invite others to help hold you accountable. You can’t do it alone.
In the book of Revelation, God speaks to the people of an ancient church. He tells them they are spiritually neither hot nor cold and that He wants to spit them out of His mouth (Revelation 3:15-16). They are on the fence.
Are you on the fence? Are you hot, cold, or neither? Joshua, before entering the Promised Land, told all the Israelites, “Choose this day whom you shall serve; as for me and my house [school] we will serve the Lord (Joshua 24:15).”
He was telling them, “Get off the fence and go with God!”
God, help us get off any known or unknown fences we may be on. Help us live a life of service to you and others. Amen.
Copyright Don Clark.
Don is a retired elementary special education teacher. He recently retired from his role as the Houston area director for Christian Educators.
