The Blue Playdoh Lid and Sin

Recently life has felt a bit crazy. It's that long winter feel- illness after illness affecting child after child and Sean and myself. So, that leads me to the blue Play-doh lid. Sometime last week (oh how embarrassing it is to admit the length of time this has gone on) as the kids were running rampant destroying, I mean playing throughout the house, they had Play-doh out. In the mix of that, somewhere along the lines a blue lid was left astray, alone, ignored and mostly unnoticed on the living room floor . Ironically, or maybe better said, ashamedly, I've even swept and swifer'd the floors and yet pushed the lid aside and simply swept around it. (Totally lazy, I'll admit it!) But I'm tired. I'm sick of being sick and cleaning up after sickness and bathing sickness and laundering mess after mess. Maybe someone else would see it and pick it up? Maybe it was so small and insignificant it didn't really deserve my attention or the work it took to be rid of it. After all, my joints were aching and I didn't feel like feeling the hurt to bend down and pick up the blue lid (or maybe it is white?! Now that I know I can't see the correct dress color maybe every white I see is truly blue and every blue I see is truly white?! But that's altogether another blog post.).

This week as I ponder several of those dearest to me struggling with deep and intense addictions, struggles, weights, and my own weights and sin, I consider the body builder. His chief desire is growth, strength, ability beyond common and power unmatched. While he lifts, the muscles tear. This tearing is what creates the deeper growth. It hurts. It aches. There are moments that thrill and moments that disappoint. Moments that feel like the pain and struggle and work is too much; accomplishments feel impossible, or maybe unreachable, unattainable. But little by little, small right step by small right step (thanks Jason Mitchell for the planting seeds talk) he can accomplish something so big. We too can embrace the process, the work and toil and labor-expecting the great growth and accomplishment we know will come as the payoff to not giving up. Or, we can soil the soil with defeat and self doubt, laziness, weakness and unwillingness-whatever it is that is exactly allowing that "blue Play-doh lid" to sit there in our lives unmoved, un-worked, un-thrown off, un-rid of. (I know that's totally not a word!)

Hebrews 12:1 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,

So, back to the blue Play-doh lid. It still sits on my floor, by the way, as I write. (I'm most certainly going to go pick it up and throw it away-where it surely belongs at this point-after I finish writing these thoughts) But anyway, to me, this lid represents our sin, our struggles, our destructive behavior choices, that small seed of bitterness, those idle words that seem small but are eating away at your marriage, your self worth, and those lies that are robbing your family of trust etc... Left unattended, ignored, and alone, lazily we walk on and we neglect those ugly little buggers that just create messes in our "house". We may not even notice them, we may "feel better" ignoring them, we may feel too weak to address them, we may even want someone else to clean up for us. But nonetheless, we can't deny the mess they make.

When we choose to lift those weights, little by little, time after time, we'll be amazed, we'll be proud, and we'll stand stronger and more aware of our beauty and ability than ever before. When we do the "work" it takes to clean up and get rid of the small blue Play-doh lids in our lives.

Ephesians 4:31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior.

Embrace the process of pruning, ripening, tilling, and be joyful and excited in the process that will lead you to the fruit of your labor!

Much love and prayers,
Abi