One of life’s joys is eating with good friends. This evening we experienced such a joy. It was at an Italian restaurant and I was puzzled that I could not see any lasagna listed on the menu. Carefully I read the menu three times and finally gave up and asked the girl who waited upon us. You can imagine my chagrin when she said, “It’s under your thumb.” Duh!!
Sometimes I hear new college students tell me the thing they like best about college is they are out from under their parent’s thumb. They feel like they are adults and free to control their own lives. I know I can remember the euphoria of those first few weeks at college. It was great. But of course I soon learned I was still under the thumb of my professors and the dorm dean. After I bought my first home I realized I was under the thumb of the mortgage, the insurance, the lawn, the electric company and the fuel oil guys. Is it possible to have any existence without being responsible to someone? Probably not.
I am even under God’s thumb. I know some people find that oppressive. But that is only because they don’t understand God’s true nature. I like being under His thumb. He provides us counsel and ways to avoid a host of oppressive problems. If I take His counsel not to tell bad stories about others the fruit of gossiping does not come back to haunt me. If I don’t murder others I most likely will not spend my final days on death row in a state institution. Wow. Talk about being under someone’s thumb! I think the issue here is since we have to be under someone’s thumb, God’s thumb is the best.
Written by Roger Bothwell on May 18, 2009
Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574
rogerbothwell.org