THE GINGERBREAD MAN
“Catch us the
foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vines, for our vines have tender grapes.”
Song of Songs
2:15
Do you
remember, as a child, reading or hearing the story about “The Gingerbread Man”?
The story begins when an old lady baked a gingerbread cookie for her and her
husband to eat, but when she took it out of the oven; it jumped off the pan and
ran away. The old lady ran after him and
he called back, “Run, run as fast as you can.
You can’t catch me, I’m the Gingerbread Man.” Then a pig began chasing
him followed by a cow, and a horse. All the while the Gingerbread Man called
back, “Run, run as fast as you can. You
can't catch me, I'm the Gingerbread Man”.
At last he came to a river and didn’t know what to do, when a fox
appeared from behind a tree. The sly fox told him to jump on his back and he
would swim across the river with him. So
the Gingerbread man jumped on the foxes back and they began to swim across the
river, but he was getting wet. The fox
said, “Jump on my nose and you will stay dry.”
When they got to the other side, the fox tossed the Gingerbread Man in
the air with his nose and when he came down the fox caught him in his mouth and
that was the end of the Gingerbread Man.
Many of us
are like that Gingerbread man; we are constantly on the run and don’t realize
that one of these days we may come to a sudden stop. We even think like the Gingerbread Man; “I’m
just going to keep running as fast as I can and it will never catch up with
me.” Just like the sly fox, things began
to creep up on you. Going without sleep
or rest brings memory lapses, impaired judgment, irritability, risk of heart
disease, diabetes, depression and a shorter lifespan. Without rest our stress level climbs higher
and higher. Stress causes the same
things that lack of sleep cause and even more.
These
things happen to our bodies more as we age.
To remain healthy our body requires 7 to 9 hours of sleep every
night. It is no wonder God speaks about rest
and sleep. “It is useless for you
to work so hard from early morning until late at night, anxiously working for
food to eat; for God gives rest [sleep] to his loved ones.” Psalm 127:2
[NLB] God has programmed our bodies for sleep and for rest. The Bible speaks of it like it is a gift from
God and I believe it is when we see the problems it causes us with lack of it.
I often wonder how we ever hear from God when
we are always on the run. Jesus,
himself, had times that he had to go off by himself and commune with his
heavenly Father. Did you ever wonder why
you never seem to hear from God? Could
be you aren’t listening; too many other things running through your mind. Can’t sleep; perhaps your mind is still
running at full speed. The strange part
about this is that you aren’t accomplishing anything by worrying and going over
and over things. A good night’s sleep
gives you a fresh outlook on things when you wake in the morning.
There are
times when we run, run, run doing the Lord’s work, yet have no time for the
Lord. Ask yourself how long it has been
since you sat quietly reading the Bible and praying to God without TV blaring,
music playing or your cell phone ringing?
The average Christian doesn’t do this because they claim they are too
busy and can’t find the time. Aren’t you
glad that the Almighty God, who created you and had a plan for your life,
always has time to listen to you when you talk to him? He hears your every prayer.
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