Community Matters, Even When it’s Messy

Psalm 40 was on my devotional calendar and as soon as I read it, I thought about my misadventure in the mud a few days before.

The official spring date was still a few days away but most of the snow had already melted and I was giddy as I got into the car to finally run long awaited errands. My joy was short-lived as right past my driveway my car  got stuck in the mud in a brown and gooey mixture of soil and melted snow. After vain efforts and pressing on the pedal too hard, I had to recognize that I wasn’t going anywhere. I checked YouTube on my phone for tutorials on how to get one’s car unstuck from the mud. It seemed that the grooves had widened into a crater of more than ankle deep sludge. I called two people for help but they were unavailable. I confess I could have called others who might have been home, but I didn't want to be a bother, I could handle this. I looked at the long skirt I had decided to wear in honor of “almost spring” and calculated the leap from the driver's seat across the widening puddle to terra ferma. I gulped and told myself maybe cleaning the whole mess afterwards wouldn’t be as terrible as I thought. I had my hand on the door handle , I hesitated, and sent a prayer. Just then a fresh faced, clean cut college student with pressed jeans and decisively clean boots showed up.

“Need some help, huh?” He had a frowned expression and walked around carefully examining my predicament. 

“Be careful about your boots…” I started to tell him but he wasn’t worried about them. He gave the car a one push then a stronger one and finally determined that he might need a cable. I had none but it was obvious that he wasn’t done trying to figure out how he would get me unstuck. Just then an SUV pulled up with two more young strangers. They had cables and between the three of them my car was back on the road in no time! The students seemed pleased, but with half smiles gently shrugged their shoulders at my effusive thanks.  I hadn't known their names but they had been my teachers that day.

I waited patiently for the Lord;
 he turned to me and heard my cry.
He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.

–Psalm 40:1-2

Who waits patiently when they are stuck? Wouldn’t you want to get out right away and fight your way out? What if your efforts sink and you cannot fight the mud anymore? The Psalmist chooses to depend on God because he knows very well that he needs God to pull him out.

When we depend on our God we are at our strongest. When we choose to reach out for another for help or accept help, our community is at its strongest.

YouTube and self-reliance are great but also make it easier for us to carry on alone too many times. Opening our hearts to another sometimes means opening our hearts to receive the gift others might have for us, and in return we give them the gift of being an answered prayer.

by Sabine Vatel, Discipleship/GROW Group Pastor