Sunday, April 20, 2008

Barking Up The Wrong Tree

Recently several family members pulled off for a coffee at Canada's favorite watering hole, Tim Hortons. Actually we didn't stop we went through the famous Drive Thru.

We paused to give the attendant our order and waited for what seemed like an eternity. Nobody was coming on the intercom to take our order.

One of us, and I won't reveal which one, began to murmur and complain. "They are awfully slow here. I've had trouble here before. There's nobody else in line. What's the problem?" I added that I had experienced a few "slow" attendants at this particular Tims.


The driver (it wasn't me...or Carol, I might add) was getting exasperated when I observed and realized, much to our chagrin, that we had stopped at the menu board, not the speaker where you place your order. We were "barking up the wrong tree" so to speak. We drove ahead a few feet, placed our order and we were on our way in moments. Great service...and quick!


How often do we park ourselves at God's menu board, where all His blessings and gifts are listed. Instead of moving ahead and thanking Him for what He has given us, we linger and wait, expecting more. Need a fresh infusion of grace, mercy or power? Go to the source of "every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ". Speak to the Father, don't linger at the blessing board.

3 comments:

  1. Oh, I love that analogy, Pilgrim!

    God bless you,
    LPP

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  2. Great story & lesson! Sounds like something I would do..... Thanks David!
    Cliff

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  3. Haha, well rest assured this is likely far from the first time this has happened. I remember back when I was young (around 6) my mom did the same thing, pulling up to the direction sign, and she gave our whole order. When nobody responded she went on with "Hello? Can you hear me?" sort of things for a couple minutes before she finally realized she was 'barking up the wrong tree' as you put it. It was really embarassing at the time, but now I get a good laugh out of it ... :) And I really like your metaphor!

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