I once knew a man named Lonn Butler, a righteous man who has since gone to be with the Lord.
Lonn was 90 or so years old when I knew him.
He had pecan trees in his backyard. A sapling had grown near one of the trees.
My wife Jan wanted to have a pecan tree in our own yard, so she made arrangements for us to go to Lonn’s home to dig up the sapling and transplant it into our yard.
So we went to Lonn’s home on a Saturday morning. Lonn supplied the shovel. The shovel was old and had deep cracks along the handle. I was able to dig up the sapling, but the shovel broke in the process.
I had not placed any excessive stress on the shovel. It was really not my fault that the shovel broke.
So we thanked Lonn for the sapling and drove away.
But I felt uneasy. So I drove to a hardware store, purchased a new shovel, then returned to Lonn’s home to give it to him. Lonn was very happy to have the new shovel.
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The point of this story is that people are like Lonn’s old shovel. Many have deep cracks or wounds in their souls.
Do we want to be the stress that breaks them?
We must be very kind towards others. And we should be willing and prepared to help those whom we have hurt.
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Galatians 5:22-23
But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things.