On A Bridge

Hey, Y'all,

Ever been on a bridge and you really didn't want to be there? I have and I tell you true, that it is an experience not to be repeated.

I was going through all my pictures the other day (as you know if you have read my blog over the last few days) and I ran across this picture which was taken over thirty two years ago. I didn't want to take the trouble of scanning it in to my computer, so I just propped it up on my computer table and took a picture of the picture and downloaded it.

This picture was taken early one morning while Gramps and I were taking a two week Environmental Health course through University of Tennessee and it was conducted at Fall Creek Falls in middle Tennessee by Dr. Paul Wishert. We had a marvelous fun time during those two weeks. We did some "tree-hugging" and learned about all kinds of consevational measures.

One thing we had to do was to cross the swinging bridge in this picture. I have a dreadful fear of heights and walking over that bridge was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do in my whole life. Gramps was aware of that fear and he did a beautiful thing for me. I went first over the bridge and if you know anything about crossing a swinging bridge, you know that as you walk it bounces. I wanted to go first so that I would have it over with. I stepped onto the bridge and took a few steps. It was bouncing like wild and I turned my head to look back and complain about the people behind me who were (I thought) making it bounce.

To my great surprise, I was alone on the bridge, and Gramps was keeping everyone else back on the ground at the entrance to the bridge. I wound up crawling on my hands and knees crossing that bridge.

This experience makes me think about how many times we find ourselves on bridges to nowhere, crossing to get to the other side, with no other objective in mind. When I was crossing that swinging bridge, I just wanted to get to the other side, without dropping into the foaming water below me. Do I ever want to cross a swinging bridge again? I reckon not!

Sometimes we are in situations where we just want to survive, with no end goal in mind except to get to the other side safely. This is when our friends reach out to help us and we return the favor by helping them when they have bridges to cross. Thank you, Lord, for friends in precarious places! Help us, too, Lord, to reach out to others!

Well, that is about all today from Blabbin' Grammy. Love to all of you. Bye for now.