Day 5: That Quiet Grinding

[Photo Credit]

They aren't the large stones, or even the smallish ones, pebbles are the ones you might not feel when you start your run and yet by the middle of it they will make themselves known. Pebbles left in a shoe throughout a long run will rub the skin raw, causing blisters, creating a wound-taking the runner out by their mere presence -no matter how small.

What pebbles do I have in my running shoes, which after only a few miles will create sores and fill each of step with agony? A little character issue swept under the carpet here, another there, little thoughts, little words, bad attitudes hidden with white smiles, all these and many other 'little' things create problems in your spiritual walk.

Last night at our church's prayer meeting several of the leaders wept over the pebbles that they had allowed to be left in their lives while being too lazy to remove them, not even really feeling them-but for the repercussions these setbacks where having somewhere deep within.

We weren't made to run with that constant grinding, that nagging pain shoved down and ignored but out of embarrassment of its disclosure and the humiliation of its existence we leave them right where they are smiling at others through the pain. We all have these pebbles, we all have weakness. Jesus wants to remove your shoes, peel off your blood-stained socks, clean the wounds, let the air get to them and rinse away the pain as well as the guilt.

What if He chose a christian friend to do it? What would that exposure of your unkemptness show them? Just that you, as much as they need a good washing in the love of Christ. Be vulnerable, remove your fake smiles, let down the masks that glisten, be transparent, in that there is freedom.

Time to peel off the bloody socks.

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Previous Posts on Prayer and Fasting:

Day 4: Define Me.
Day 3: Grace
Day 2: Giving Up.
Day 1: Starting Out
Allowing Blank Space.
Consider Change
On fasting.