Dump Sites
Last year when the ice storms hit the Midwest, our town was devastated by its impact. After the ice was gone it was time to look at the trees that had been broken and knocked down. The broken limbs were on individual lots, city parks and giant fields. They were everywhere. The clean up plan was put into place and all of those pieces were gathered up and taken to predetermined dump sites. I remember one of the because it was right of a main road of transportation. It was there that they would use a wood chipper and reduce the wood to mulch that could be hauled away. But the main thing I remember is how that dump site smelled! Piles of debris and mulch and leaves sitting in the rain, sun and rain again as they awaited their destination. Dump sites.
I thought about the way we gather debris and start dumping them by the places we travel. Often we create the storm that breaks up lives and hearts. Other times the devastation comes from the outside. But the fractures pieces are condensed to words and thoughts and then spread everywhere we go. We dump on our friends, our families, even our church! Jesus had a plan for dispensing our anger and our animosity or bitterness towards others. It did not include contributions to dump sites and He never wanted the church to become one. In fact here is what He said in Mark 11:24...
"Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours." You have probably heard that before. And then you prayed and it seemed that heaven was silent. But we must read on. It says in verse 25, "and when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins." Our very communication with our Creator can be damaged by the dump sites we create around us. We cannot afford to let our emotions pile high and become an eyesore and a stench in the nostrils of God.
Take some time today to look at those things that have come against you and what you have done with your broken heart, your fragmented spirit, your devastated emotions. Have you gathered them up and created a dump site that is unattractive around you. Let the Lord haul those feelings away today bu forgiving those that have hurt you. Ask forgiveness to those you have wronged and release yourself to be all that He designed you to be. Then put up a big sign in your mid to help you in the future that says NO MORE DUMPING!
I thought about the way we gather debris and start dumping them by the places we travel. Often we create the storm that breaks up lives and hearts. Other times the devastation comes from the outside. But the fractures pieces are condensed to words and thoughts and then spread everywhere we go. We dump on our friends, our families, even our church! Jesus had a plan for dispensing our anger and our animosity or bitterness towards others. It did not include contributions to dump sites and He never wanted the church to become one. In fact here is what He said in Mark 11:24...
"Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours." You have probably heard that before. And then you prayed and it seemed that heaven was silent. But we must read on. It says in verse 25, "and when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins." Our very communication with our Creator can be damaged by the dump sites we create around us. We cannot afford to let our emotions pile high and become an eyesore and a stench in the nostrils of God.
Take some time today to look at those things that have come against you and what you have done with your broken heart, your fragmented spirit, your devastated emotions. Have you gathered them up and created a dump site that is unattractive around you. Let the Lord haul those feelings away today bu forgiving those that have hurt you. Ask forgiveness to those you have wronged and release yourself to be all that He designed you to be. Then put up a big sign in your mid to help you in the future that says NO MORE DUMPING!
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