Merge???

There is a dear elderly gentleman who summers on our road...a lover of signs.

It is always a treat to take my walk in the morning...for I never know when one of these new signs will "pop" up.

Almost always, these signs are instruments in conversation starters amongst the residents of our point...and many are cause for a little chuckle or two.



Like the day the "Dirt Road" sign went up...not at the beginning of our road, mind you,...but about a mile in...as if you hadn't caught on yet that you were driving on a dirt road!






Or the day that the "Children" sign lovingly was placed near the edge of our property. A gesture of caring, for sure. Many folks laughed...for our youngest was already in his teens...but in the eyes of an old man...my boys were still "children".




For a short time we had a "Lobster Crossing" sign placed near a flooded portion of our road...where the culvert washed out after a severe rainstorm. This sign caused a few giggles...since the flood water was from a frog pond.

As I said...many of the signs are cause for a little chuckle or two.



Until the "Merge" sign...



Everyone is puzzled about this sign...



First of all, because nobody seems to know just who put it there. Our elderly neighbor claims that this was not his handiwork this time. Of course, everyone is convinced that it must have been him.

Secondly, there is no cause for or possibility of "merging" at this point on our road. It is simply nailed to a tree by a little winding curve.

And so I ponder as I walk...

Webster's Dictionary gives the following as definitions of the word "merge".

to plunge or engulf in something : immerse, to cause to combine, unite, or coalesce, to blend gradually by stages that blur distinctions, to become combined into one, to blend or come together without abrupt change

And I am reminded...isn't this what our Lord is calling us to do??? To "merge" into becoming Christlike...day by day? For we are called to "plunge into" and "immerse" ourselves in the Word...which will cause us to "blend gradually by stages that blur distinctions" as we grow to be more and more like Him... as we "unite" and "coalesce" (grow together) with our brothers and sisters in Christ. For most of us,this "blending or coming together" will not be an "abrupt change"...but a continuous flowing process...just like "merging".

Perhaps it wasn't my elderly friend who placed this sign here after all...

"But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit"
1 Corinthians 6:17

"Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ...But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ" Ephesians 4:13,15