A meditation for back-to-school season - The Power Of Drip-Drops

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A meditation for back-to-school season -
The Power Of Drip-Drops

by Dr. Ralph F. Wilson
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On a sweltering 95 degree afternoon in Hannibal, Missouri, our family stepped into the cave where Injun Joe had attacked Tom Sawyer and Becky Thatcher in Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer. The 55 degree temperature inside quickly called for sweaters.

It was so quiet.

Drip, drip, drip.

The stillness of the cave echoed the steady dripping of water, each drop carrying its dissolved cargo of calcium carbonate. Stalactites, like massive funnels clinging to the ceiling high above us, dripped endlessly, drop after drop, a tiny bit at a time, building the stalagmite cones growing from the rugged floor.

Drip, drop. A little drop, a tiny deposit of limestone. Drip, drip ... drop after drop ... year after year, and a mighty pillar is formed floor to ceiling. Many drops, one upon another, mature to become pillars.

Habits are like that. Good habits, day after day, build tiny toddlers into sturdy, resilient men and women whose values are solid, who know what they believe, who become the pillars of tomorrow's society.

Some of those good habits is attending church and Sunday school, and daily devotions. Too often in summers those habits get squeezed to death between weekend trips to grandmother's house and the lake, Disney World and camping trips.

Good habits that die leave would-be pillars stunted.

Back-to-school season isn't just time for K Mart to make a fortune off binders and pencil boxes, Levi 501s and Reeboks. It's also the time help children and grandchildren--and ourselves--re- establish the essential habit going to church and spending time with God.

***

The day will soon come when Jason and Jennifer will have adding and times tables down cold. They'll be able to point out Liverpool and Zanzibar. But will they know Jesus? Will they know how to pray? This Sunday put new shoes on those little ones and bring them with you to God's house!

***

Drip, drip, drop. Good habits today, carefully nurtured, build strong lives for tomorrow.

*Editor: You may want to use this paragraph (55 words) or leave it out, depending upon your audience.

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