Friday, September 21, 2012

Doo Doo

Do you ever feel burdened by a pile of doo doo?   Do this and do that in order to be a good Christian.  Do, do, do.  The expectations never end.  I must have a clean and organized house, I must maintain a perfect body, I must look stylish, I must be the best home teacher, my children must turn out right, I must have perfect relationships with my friends, I must have friends, I must be hip with the latest technology and be adept at using it.  All a bunch of doo doo.

Oh, it doesn't end there.  Far from it!  I must fight for breast cancer, for the unborn, for the starving children, and for the widow next door. I must care for the single mom, must reach out to my neighbors, and adopt a child.  I must keep in touch with my extended families, volunteer in my child's classroom, buy Christmas presents and remember birthdays.  I must not own too much stuff, must drive the right car, recycle, and live in the right neighborhood.
Tsk, tsk
Wait...hold on a minute... is this a cage I'm in?

Could I have a little less doo doo please?  I'm feeling in need of a shovel and a bath about now.  Jesus rebuked the religious leaders of His day for placing heavy burdens on people which they themselves could not even bear.  Burdens of guilt and expectations. Yet at the same time Jesus tells us that His yoke is easy and His burden is light. (Matt. 11:28,29) Ahh, take a whiff of that pure refreshing air.  I don't have to do all that stuff to be accepted by God.  He's not angry with me if I don't keep all the bases covered.

Is that to say those things are unimportant?  No, but it does mean that we share the load.  Our yoke is tailor made for us.  God knows what burdens our hearts, but we do not bear it alone.  Jesus Himself carries our burdens with us.

Yet we cannot place our tailor made yoke on someone else because it simply will not fit.  Each must follow his passion.  This is one reason we have the church.  There are so many differing facets of outreach and ways to serve that we cannot by ourselves fill every need.  But as each is drawn to a specific area the body as a whole can meet numerous needs.
Where are those green pastures and still waters?
So don't throw your doo doo over at me.  That doesn't get the barn clean.  But working beside each other certainly can 'cause God's right there with us, spray nozzle in hand, hosing the place down, every inch of it.   He's got it covered. 

(Many of these thoughts first came to me from my pastor several weeks ago, but have come home in recent days.) 


2 comments:

  1. I was smiling the whole way through this. Probably because I've lived on a farm for most of my life. The analogy is excellent and I can relate to how we tend to have so much clutter in our lives, be it physical or spiritual. God help each of us to do just the things He is asking of us and not what we think others expect. If we do-do this... there is a lot less cleanup which means a lot less work. Good write-up, sister Love, Blossom
    p.s. I'm still chuckling

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  2. We got behind this truck on the way home from Ohio and it tickled my funny bone. I could not stop laughing and knew the pictures would come in handy for a blog post, although I didn't yet know what. Thought they were a perfect fit here.

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