Do you pay attention to things which don’t quite line up correctly? Things that aren’t level? You know, like pictures?

Among the variety of things that bug me, unlevel wall hangings is near the top of the list. Pictures. Mirrors. Plaques. Whatevers. I can’t help it. I notice them everywhere I go.

When I see pictures in our house which need straightened, I straighten them. Do you have any idea how much restraint it takes not to reach out and straighten things in others’ homes or offices? Especially all those crooked posters in doctors’ waiting rooms.

In the same way it bothers me to see unlevel things hanging on a wall, I imagine it bugs God to look at our lives and see them deviate, even by a minuscule amount, from his level, his truth.

We might look at ourselves and think we aren’t that bad. We’re only a little off-kilter. It isn’t that big a deal. No one will notice.

But God notices, and it’s a big deal to him. So much so, he went to great extremes to make sure there was a way to make us level. To make us straight. To make us pleasing to him.

Maybe we’re unlevel because our foundation’s cracked. Maybe we’re unlevel because we’re lining ourselves up with those on the wall beside us who aren’t level. Maybe we’re unlevel because we’ve been jarred by the knocks we’ve taken. Or maybe our frame is warped.

Whatever the reason, the solution remains the same. We need to pull out God’s level – the Bible – read his directions, and measure ourselves against that. Then, and only then, will we be able to do what I often heard my dad say, “Straighten up, and fly right!”

So what bugs you? What’s that one irritating thing you have trouble looking beyond?

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The Lord showed me a vision of himself standing beside a wall and holding a string with a weight tied to the end of it. The string and weight had been used to measure the straightness of the wall. Then he asked, “Amos, what do you see?”

“A measuring line,” I answered.

The Lord said, “I’m using this measuring line to show that my people Israel don’t measure up, and I won’t forgive them any more.  Amos 7:7-8 (CEV)

I wish you well.

Sandy

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