Article June 5, 2000 Issue

Need someone to lean on?

An "attitude adjustment" leads to healing.

By James Christopher Shoaf

One of my happy childhood memories is of spending time with my father as he worked on our farm. He counted on my eight-year-old brother to help him feed the sheep and milk the cows, while I, a little four-year-old, could barely keep up. I managed fairly well until it snowed, but then I struggled just trying to step where my father and brother had walked. When he saw me struggling, my father would pick me up and carry me on his back, placing my feet in the back pockets of his bib overalls, as I wrapped my arms around his neck. I can still remember how warm and comfortable I felt as my father did his chores with me on his back.

Too often, once we're adults, the more carefree nature of childhood gives way to feelings of tension, doubt, and fear. We think we have to meet life's challenges alone. There's no one to wrap our arms around and lean on.

Perhaps it's time to be like a child again—time to put childlike trust in God. Certainly, that's what the Bible urges in statements like this one: "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths" (Prov. 3:5, 6). And this one: "In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust: let me never be put to confusion" (Ps. 71:1).

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