Getting the junk out.

It happened to me on the playground the other day.

It was one of those moments, where God used the smallest thing to speak straight to my heart to teach me something.  Has it happened to you?  You observe something, just a normal thing, and then you hear that voice in your head say, "You see that?  That is what I want you to do too".

Little Emma was having a great time at the playground, climbing the steps, going down the slides, and running around the place as fast as her little legs would carry her.

As I watched her, I noticed a peculiar thing; she was picking up the little pieces of debris (mostly rubber wood chips that had made their way onto the steps and bridges of the park because they had stuck to the children's feet), and tossed them out of her way; back on the ground where they belonged.  She did this several times over, and I thought to myself, "She's getting rid of the clutter so that next time she climbs the stairs, goes down this slide, etc., she won't have to deal with it again.

Genius, I tell you.

How often in our lives are there little things that get in our way every single time, and we never pick them up, clean them out, or do anything about them at all?  

These little things are those habits, those attitudes, those little areas of sin and disobedience, which seem to rear their ugly heads in our lives over and over again.

If we never deal with them, they will only continue to get in our way.

Hebrews 12 verses 1 through 3 say

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, ² fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. ³ Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. "

This verse came to my mind as I watched my daughter play that day.

How are we going to run the race if we keep tripping over the same clutter over and over again?

Only when it is addressed, rejected, and thrown out will we be able to run.  It's not easy to take the extra time and energy, but consider the freedom with which we can run without being all tangled up!