Saturday afternoon I took a walk down the unpaved section of the Chief Ladiga Trail in Cleburne County, Alabama.  This is a beautiful stretch of Alabama’s wilderness at its best.  I walked to the newly restored bridge that was the last holdout to connecting the Silver Comet (Georgia) and Chief Ladiga Rails to Trails project.  As I traveled back toward my ride it was getting dark and just at the edge of the trail I spotted this vine seemingly to reach down and lift this stick upwards.

It was so dark I could not focus my camera on the vine; so I set the exposure to Manual and took a couple of long exposure shots hoping to get a good one.  Thinking back to that moment I remember wishing I had as good a grip on the things in my life as this vine did.  I guess we all hold pretty tightly to the things that are important to us.  A miser clutches his money so tightly that there is little room for anything else.  Some people hold their prejudices so strongly that they fail to realize when their prejudices suddenly seize control of their life.

But the truth is we are all reaching out and holding on to something.  We reach for position, status, approval and acceptance but these are difficult to hold; too easily they slip from our grasp.  May I suggest something more meaningful for us to reach for in our lives; something so important that it once emptied heaven of its most precious possession?  What could that be you ask?  The most important thing for us to reach for are those living and working right next to us; those who have fallen or need someone to lift them up.

I know this first hand; because there have been times in my life when I had lost my way.  I had fallen and I could not get up; I had lost my way and did not know what direction to go to find my way home.  But just at that moment, someone reached out to me and lifted me up.  And there are people all around us sitting in darkness waiting for someone to care enough to reach down and help them find their way back home.  Will we be so concerned with our position and status that we fail to see those who need our help?  Will we be found reaching for things that pass away and not notice the truly important things?  What are you reaching for today?

Something to think about:

• Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp . . . Or what’s a heaven for?

• Faith has to do with the basis, the ground on which we stand. Hope is reaching out for something to come. Love is just being there and acting.

• Many a man would reach a greater height if he had more depth.

• The best time to hold on is when you reach the place where the average person gives up.

• A person that is not reaching out is passing out.

• Life benefits from serving others, for as it reaches out to help, it gathers something for itself—friendship.

• People who don’t know whether they are coming or going are usually in the biggest hurry to get there.

• Too low they build who build below the skies.

Thankful for those who reached down for me
Rickey Moore