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Friday, August 29, 2008

No Littering

This afternoon my family and I are heading to a Christian family camp for the weekend. I am praying for a time of bonding and drawing closer to God. It's just going to be me, Gene, Aaron and Alivia. No TV, computer or cell phones, just horses, canoes, fishing, swimming and JESUS! The speaker is a youth pastor and this is how he was described in the brochure: "His heart's desire is to see youth culture that is desperately honest with the Creator of the Universe. He'll encourage us to move beyond denial and into vibrant faith! He'll challenge parents to meet their children where they're at and develop unabashed conviction for God!" Oh, my heart is so ready to see what God has for us out in the woods! So I go with expectation that God is already in our cabin unpacking His bags.





Wednesday morning I was driving to work and was stopped by a red light. There is a gas station on the corner of the intersection and an employee of the station caught my eye. He was out in the parking lot with a leaf blower. His parking lot was empty of trees so I watched to see what he was using it for.


Instead of picking up the trash that was either dropped by a customer or wind blown into his parking lot, he was using the leaf blower to move the trash off of his grounds. He was trying to make his store look good by having a spotless parking lot.

I wonder how much of that trash that he was blowing away was what he had blown away the morning before only to have it return.




What struck me by the time the light turned green is how often we do this in our own lives. We have garbage that God wants us to get rid of in our life. Ungodliness that needs to go in order to have the walk with God that our heart desires. What we do though is we get out our leaf blower and just move the stuff out of our sight, never completely letting go of it.





Ladies, if we want all that God has for us we have to give Him the garbage in our lives. Changing the location of it is not the answer because when we are weak that trash is going to be blown right back in front of us. Let's step away from the leaf blower and trust God when He tells us that something needs to go. Cleaning up the mess that old trash leaves over and over again can be so exhausting!




You are such a blessing to this unending project Jesus took on years ago. Life is too short to not live it focused completely on Him.
Let's do this thing His way.




If you didn't read yesterday's post, make sure to do so if you're interested in what the next Yes to God Tuesday book will be. It's an awesome one you won't want to miss!
Have a wonderful weekend!

Love you,

14 comments:

Jill Beran said...

Lelia, Enjoyed your words today - they matched right up with the study I'm doing on personal revival. Obviously it's a message God wants me to hear. Thanks and here's to taking out the trash - that statement has a whole new meaning now!! Pray your weekend is a blessing!

Runner Mom said...

Love the leaf blower story! God has just blessed you!!!Thanks for blessing us in return!

Y'all have a wonderful time this weekend! I'll be praying that this opportunity IS as good as it sounds! Can't wait to hear about it!

Love ya,
Susan

kari and kijsa said...

Trying to get back into the blogging swing of things and give a grateful shoutout for all the paryers and support!

Thankful blessings,
kari & kijsa

Paula V said...

Yes, let's toss away our leaf blower and allow God to use His leaf sucker and mulcher. I know that's not the correct terminology but my leaf blower is multi-function. I call it a leaf blower but it actually also will suck things up and mulch them into a bag. That's what we need. Allow God to suck the junk out of our lives and mulch it up.

Have a wonderful weekend filled with the Lord and His nature. You deserve it sweet one.

I know Amy (from In My Life) will love this analogy. She loves visuals. Hopefully, my comment has just added to her visual.

Love ya chickadee.
Paula

valerie said...

Hi Lelia,
I just wanted to say hello.
I hope you have a wonderful weekend.
San Antonio was great. Thanks for your prayers.
Love,
Valerie

Stonefox said...

This is so true...we can't just blow it off, so to speak. Made me think how often we may "blow" it into someone else's yard or space? That's not a pretty thought either.

Julie said...

Hey friend,
I know you are away at camp, but when you get home would you pray for my 18 yr. old, Courtney.
She flies out Monday on her first flight to India for 3 weeks with missionaries....

Thanks,
Hugs,
Julie

Yolanda said...

Lelia,

Cleaning out some trash, setting some boundaries, and our thoughts are resonating in some of the same directions once again.

Love ya,
Yolanda

Anonymous said...

Yet another wonderful analogy... Have a wonderful weekend with your family. Stop by mine and smell the roses when you get a chance... Blessings. Naomi

HisPrincess said...

I hope you have a great time away Lelia. I just love the way you bring everyday life to Christ, and help us to look at things in a different light.

You are such a blessing.
Sharon.

Laura said...

I love this post, Lelia!I pray your family time is blessed. Praying for you guys...

Pamela (His maidservant) said...

Lelia-hope you had a great weekend. Wish our family had been there. Needing your prayers. I would have texted you but didn't want to disturned you at this event...
In His Graces~Pamela

2nd Cup of Coffee said...

Also, sometimes Christians blow a lot of "hot wind" (big talk) about change but aren't really that serious. I've been guilty a time or two! Hope you had a great weekend.

Paula said...

Wow, a great post, thank you! It has made me instantly think of all the material (and emotional) trash that is stored away in boxes, like what I do with odds and ends from my life in my garage! This is "conscious choice" trash; the stuff that you don't want to see everyday but feel comforted in a way by it being tucked away safely. I feel a spring clean coming on here in Australia! Time to hit those boxes and empty them. Thank you again my friend! :-)