Sunday was a beautiful day, and because it was (beautiful and not too chilly) mom and grandma’s sisters (mom’s aunts and my great-aunts) shared time on my front porch.  Now, when we built our house sixteen years ago, one choice was easy—-have a wrap-around porch.
That’s where we found ourselves Sunday after lunch.
That’s where we find the application for today’s thoughts.
That’s where God’s glorious woolly worms were found—out on the porch.
Have you ever watch a woolly worm move?
Have you ever sat still for an hour and seen the woolly worm crawl from the grassy area to the sidewalk to the steps and then up onto the porch?
Now, I do not really know the purpose the woolly worm plays within our ecosystem, but they do provide discussion for humans as we look with pleasure or dread toward the wintertime, and we receive this feeling all because of the colors that adorn the wooly worm’s outer layer (both brown and black), and WHERE the creatures wear their bodily colors helps us look forward to or ponder with dread the future winter.  This folklore may be wrong, and it may be accurate, but either or, the fun is found in seeing these colored creatures and then discussing what our future may hold.

It’s truly a less than scientific future.
It’s truly a less than accurate prediction.
It’s truly a quickly forgotten prediction.
It’s truly more fiction than fact.

What is truth?

Can we find truth as we move from day-to-day throughout our lives?

If so, then as we uncover truth, does truth become more fiction at times as we perceive what we desire more than that which the Father desires?

These questions lead me back to the woolly worm because my husband located two:  one near the porch swing and one on the other side of the house near the front door.  Both had worked long hours to get where they now rested; both did not hope to be moved from their place of rest; and both were tossed through the air back to the grass after my husband revealed to the great aunts the future winter predictions (both different because the worms wore different coats of color, even though they resided upon the same front porch).
Now, silly as this discussion might be, the point to gather is that these creatures were diligent—Day-After-Day-After-Day—they slowly crawled to reach their destination.

Never did they stop.
Never did they give up.
Never did they lose hope.
Never did they turn around and go backwards toward the grass, but they continued their slow, monotonous crawl up from the grass, from one place onto a new surface, and then up onto another foundation, crawling  then straight up the side of the brick foundation, and then finally up onto the concrete porch—-where they encountered humans sharing time on a sunny, Sunday afternoon.

Be diligent.
Be diligent in faith.
Be diligent in our commitment to God.
Be diligent in following Jesus as LORD. 
Be diligent in following God’s ways.
Persevere.

We are on a journey home (an arduous one at times), and we will reach completion once we arrive.  Until THAT day when the LORD returns for us individually or collectively, we are to press on toward the prize—the prize of the highest calling—the prize of Jesus Christ. 
The Apostle Paul said it well when he was led by the Holy Spirit to write these words recorded within God’s Word.

What do we need to let go of today?
What lies behind us (in our past) where we once lived in our lostness—before Jesus came into our heart?
Where have we placed our eyes?
Where do we place our hope?
May we die to our old self today and press on toward the higher calling of Jesus Christ our LORD. 
Let us not be sluggish or satisfied in our Christian growth, but let us strain forward, pressing forward, toward that ultimate prize that supersedes everything!
Solomon wrote these words to his son (and to us who know God—to God’s children).