The Bookmark

“He will…gently lead those who are with young.” Isaiah 40:11b

I have many bookmarks. People know I love to read, and they seem to think this means I need bookmarks. I have every shape and size and color, made out of various materials, some with meaningful quotes on them, some handmade, some leather, some with tassels, some with beads. I have four books stacked beside me right now; a bookmark marks each one where I stopped reading. I also have ribbon bookmarks in my Bible, marking where I stopped reading that morning, along with post-its marking something I want to go back to.

I think of bookmarks as the stopping places. My bookmark says that I have read this far, and I will return to it when I can. (My Bible bookmark gets moved every single day. I hope yours does, too.) At the stopping places, we can either stop forever, and never start again—or we can go back to that spot, and move forward.

We sometimes have bookmarks in our life. For instance, when I am writing something but don’t have time to finish it, I mark it NEED TO FINISH and put it on my computer desktop where I will see it every day. Other important bookmarks may also occur. We may detour from a road we are on, in a sense putting a bookmark in that place in our life, and go our merry way until we realize it is time to go back to that spot and start again.

My prodigal son recently pulled a bookmark out of his life. I had nothing to do with it. I didn’t cajole him, lecture him, or reason with him about it. All the work accomplished in him was on God’s part, all glory to Him! My son was raised in our Christian home, and went to a Christian school, but shortly after that, the “following Christ” bookmark went in, and it sat, dusty, for 12 years. Gently, as a Shepherd, the Lord worked in his heart to call him back to Himself as a follower. One day my son said to me, “I think I’ll go to church with you today.” That day, he went forward and confessed his sins in repentance. He has faithfully followed since that day.

But that’s not the only bookmark. He had joined a motorcycle club that provided him with friends and activities. He had worked hard to be allowed to join, and over the years had held many offices and faithfully discharged all his duties. But today was his last meeting; he told them he was done. Yesterday, he explained to me that the club held a place in his life when he needed it, but those days were gone. He and his wife walk with Jesus now. He is whole again, not fragmented like he was. He has taken that “club” bookmark out of his life, and is picking back up his life following Christ as a whole person.

Do you have places in your life that you recognize as a stopping place—when who you were took a turn into a diversion that did not lead you forward on a godly path? It’s not too late to take out the bookmark and start moving ahead with Jesus again.

Our Father, thank You for faithfully leading each of us into Your loving arms. We pray for the prodigals, because You know how to bring them home to You. Show us where we have strayed from Your path for us—identify the bookmarks in our lives, and take us back there so we can move forward again. Amen.