You know how it goes. There is always a list of things to choose from. I could talk about a funny thing that happened, a sad thing that got me choked, an irritating thing I'm dealing with, a cute story about Jericho, a crazy comment made. Many times, for me, it depends on my mood. So, what is my mood tonight?
Thoughtful.
A few weeks ago my pastor spoke on sweating the small stuff. Getting the "little foxes" out of our life. These "little foxes" are just that, little, and they seem harmless but with closer examination we see that though they are small they can do big damage. Any thing that can do big damage is a big deal and needs to be dealt with. If we allow these foxes free reign they can be detrimental to the calling God has on our life. At the end of Pastor Josh's message he challenged us to find out what our "little foxes" are and deal with them.
Since then Lord has been very clearly been showing me my "little foxes." Asking me what I'm going to do about them. Am I going to continue to allow them to run rampant in my life? Or am I going to get rid of them? He has been challenging me to recognize them, study them so I know their plan of attack, He wants me to set traps and catch them. So, I've been doing this. It's hard work and most days it gets pretty ugly, I mean U-G-L-Y! (it's UGLY yeah, yeah it's UGLY!) I've found that I really, really, don't like these little foxes, not at all. Sadly I've gotten so use to some of these "little foxes" that somewhere along the lines I started treating them as a pet instead of seeing them as the conniving-little-beast-that-are-trying-to-take-me-out, that they are. It's not easy getting rid of pets, even when they are unwanted.
I've found that when dealing with these "little foxes" (a.k.a. habits, excuses, addiction, pride, fears, believed lies, harsh reactions) catching them is not the hardest part of, getting rid of them is. What am I supposed to do with these little beasts after I catch them? This is the question I found myself asking. The answer - the only thing you can do, make sure they don't come back, kill them. I know it sounds harsh, that's cause it is, but there is no other way. As Pastor Josh said, "What you feed will live and what you starve will die!" There are some verses in the Bible that say as much. Pluck it out, cut it off, gouge it out, starve it, they are all telling us to do the same thing - deal with it, get rid of it, kill it in whatever way you need to. With God's help and a big dose of His grace I've begun to do starving of my little foxes. Life is a lot safer and more pleasant without those little varmints running around.
Just as Pastor Josh challenged me, I am now challenging you. Find your foxes, deal with them, starve them, do whatever you have to do to get rid of them. It's not going to be easy and you are going to have to have a plan but God will give you one. When God guides He provides.
What are your "little foxes" and how are you going to get rid of them?
1 comment:
You and I should talk....turns out there were more "little foxes" hanging around than I realized even existed. I kicked a few, tried to shoo others out the door, and in the process discovered that most weren't willing to leave without a fight! Some are trying to keep me in a choke hold and still others are "nipping" at me as I'm discovering their presence. It's very obvious this IS NOT going to be an easy battle, nor a quick fix. This is going to take all out "warfare"!! And in the mean time I will try to give myself grace....realizing that they have been around for a very long time and are use to "running" things! So I will pray for you while you're doing battle....please remember me in your prayers.
Colleen
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