Watching God Work

As usual, this morning I got up to go muck stalls and feed my horses at six. The temperature in the low 20's was a bit nippy for this area. I dressed appropriately with several layers. By the time I got to the kitchen I realized there was a small stone in my sock.

The way I saw it, I had two choices.

One, I could use valuable time and stress my sore back by sitting down unlayering and removing my sock and then the stone, and then putting my sock back on...which is out of routine and difficult at best.

Or

Two, I could shuffle the little stone between my toes and go on. The stone might shift and occasionally cause some pain, but for the most part, I could probably shift it around and keep it from hurting me.

Although it was six in the morning, the analogy was potent.

The stone was a "little" thing I owned but was trying to ignore.

Not really a big threat to my whole life.
It could cause pain if not "kept under control".
It was easier to shuffle it away than to get rid of it.
When I had the time and it was easier, I could get rid of it with no stress to myself.

Hmmmmm.....


Okay, so I sat down, took off the sock and got rid of the little stone. Yes, it took concentration, time and some back pain, but once I was rid of the little sucker, I was free.

Moral of the story:

It was not the stone that was hurting me. It was me not taking the time to rid myself of it.

Hanging on to "little" sins just is not worth it. Free yourself by taking the time to:
Change an attitude
Change a habit

The time spent working on purging will be worth it on the other side.

When I first put the sock on, I did not know their was a stone in it. It took several steps to realize that I was hurting.

A word of advice:
Sometimes we do not even know that what we are doing is about to hurt ourselves and therefore others. Take time to make good choices. Do not choose to hurt.