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Elsie, get out of the mud Stepping away from sticky situations
Even after a serious bath you might still find mud in places you hadn’t thought possible. |
Over-heard
Sometimes when you walk by
someone in the street you catch a snippet of what they say. I confess to
reacting when I heard an elderly man calling out “Elsie get out of the
mud”. Elsie is a name that I associate with older ladies and I wondered
why this man’s wife was in the mud. When I looked round Elsie turned out
to be a small girl and the call didn’t sound so strange as small
children like to go in the mud. Why would anyone want to be
trampling around in the mud? Frankly it can be fun, especially if you are
small and have no care for the cleaning up afterwards as small children
seldom do. |
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Mud Mud is sticky and dirty. Even after a serious bath you might still find mud in places you hadn’t thought possible. Mud can make things smell and can stain leaving permanent marks. None of which seem important to the person trampling around in the mud and having fun. What Christian thought went through my mind when I pondered this little scene? I think you can probably guess where I am going. |
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How many things should we just leave well alone but they look fun for a moment?
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Better avoided How many things do we get into as Christians without paying any regard for the mess they will leave? I am no longer talking about a little harmless larking about with a bit of work to clear it up but the stuff of life and living. How many things should we just leave well alone but they look fun for a moment? How many things that just needed a little self discipline to avoid? It is easier, once things have turned out badly, to say to ourselves “I shouldn’t have done that”. The trick is to turn away before sliding in. And we can learn a lesson for next time and sharpen our self discipline. |
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We might need someone to say, “well, you need to get out of the mud.”
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Unseen consequences Sometimes the consequences of things cannot be so easily seen though—maybe they are in the spiritual world, perhaps a prayer doesn’t get answered, God isn’t so close, the peace and joy are lost. We cannot learn from hindsight if we cannot identify where things went wrong. We might need someone else to say, “well, you need to get out of the mud.” We might need to pray for God to show us. We might need to spend more time comparing our way of life to the guidance of the Bible for living. Perhaps today you can identify a sticky situation you have been in recently or a consequence for which you cannot identify the source. Let’s pray about it together. |
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Loving and forgiving Father, As a grandfather calls a child to get out of the mud so we recognise your call on our lives to step away from the things which dirty our lives. Your ways are good and right and you want to lead us into purity. A young man in the Bible asked how he could keep his way pure and the answer was to live according to your Word. I commit myself to seeking your Word and your ways. Help me to understand how to apply what I learn to my life. Right now I bring before you the situation of… Show me how to move towards you in this situation. Strengthen me to follow through as I should. Teach me the lessons I need to learn. In Jesus name, Amen. |
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(place holder) Return to top Return to Home Page This article © Linda Faber 2006-2009.
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