Maturing in our Walk

Taking my little pup-pup Luke for a walk and like most puppies he’s not in love with being held back by a leash. Even though it is for his protection. He growls whenever he sees it just sitting around the house :) He’s pretty obsessed with the leash. Fighting it. Biting it. Trying to jerk himself free. He wants to have some part of it in his mouth as we walk. I guess it makes him feel like he is somehow in control. 

What I notice is that the first 10 minutes of our 20 minute walks are spent with him obsessing about the leash. And then he finally lets it go and starts exploring and enjoying himself. For the first half of our walk, he misses all the beautiful flowers and sights to see. Oh and smells to smell with that curious little nose of his. 

We can be like that in relationships. So worried about whether someone who has a little more experience in an area or an elevated view is trying to control us or maybe we are the Pokey Little Puppy type. We have to be drug along. Stubborn -sitting out on the walk. We don’t know how to walk yoked with another always perceiving it as control or resisting being part of the team rather than seeing the tie as one that binds us in Love and trusting it’s there for our protection. 

We aren’t enjoying our walk of life, we fight being led by another when God has put people in our life for JUST that reason. We don't have to fight the things that keep our hearts in check because it's only for a season while we learn. It’s a crucial step of maturity to learn to walk with another. When we stop fighting being “controlled” and let go, it’s a sign that we are ready to be free. A place of maturity where the leash isn’t even needed because we are so in tune with God, we stay close to His side and never want to be ahead or behind but walk with Him hand in Hand. We understand the sweetest place is by His side.

Better go and get your armor

Our rental house has a lovely backyard. I like to start my day with God sitting outside reading His promises. I LOVE TREES and the yard has lots of beautiful trees…but what I I DON’T love about that yard: It has thousands of mosquitoes. We’ve been there for a year and even in winter, those pesky little buggers swarm me. 

At first, I was afraid to go out into the backyard but it’s just not my personality to let things deter me. You can’t be friends with a mosquito. Mosquitos don’t play nice. So it was war. (and no, i’m not in need of any mosquito remedies thank you ;)

We did all we could for protection. We have every form of citronella candle, torch that you can buy. We even bought these special little lights that zap them. I’ve got bug spray-all natural. All chemical. Lavender. We even have a salt gun to pepper them ;) If anything, they got worse at our attempts to get rid of them LOL! Why were they still there? I cast that devil out of my yard. I commanded them to die in Jesus name. Finally I decided armor was necessary. So I covered every square inch of skin other than my face with an armor of clothing. Hoodie that went over my hands, pants that I tucked into my ugg boots. You would think I would be hotter than hades in the summer but it was just like a light blanket. 

Mosquitos are like the enemy in life. He attempts to distract us from enjoying God’s presence. He wants to keep us in fear that we aren’t safe. That God is good but bad things still happen. We are exposed and vulnerable and then we focus on something NOT of God and give power to it. We live distracted lives not ENJOYING much because we can’t focus! 

In relationships, people can bring their own mosquitos to the meeting that keep you from enjoying their company. You end up swatting at the air and missing opportunities to really connect and enjoy the time together. Maybe others annoy us with their judgments or their opinions. Maybe they don’t hold the same perspectives or our agenda isn’t a “high value” to them. Maybe we get caught up in how disrespectful or talkative they are or how they don’t communicate…or how lazy they are….or selfish… Maybe they are know it alls or just have some part of their personality that grates on our nerves. Those are distracting mosquitos. 

You can find mosquitos everywhere you go in life now that I think about it. 

I finally got some revelation on this blasted thing that has plagued me for the last year. 

Ready for the big reveal????

IGNORE THEM. Yep, that’s right.
Put your armor of God on and forget about them. 

So many distractions out there.
If it’s not mosquitos that annoy us then it’s the snakes of suspicion and if it’s not snakes then it’s rats of rage or coyotes of conflict or hawks of bad history or buzzards of people not minding their own beeswax and so on and so on. Don’t focus on the plentiful pests! Focus on love and life until it becomes so big that you don’t notice the distractions anymore. In this life you will have mosquitos but take heart! Jesus has overcome the mosquitos!

When you put the full armor of God on, the enemy cannot harm you but he can still distract you from your purpose here on earth. 

How to slay mosquitos from your day? 

1. Put God’s armor on (eph 6:10-18)
2. Ignore distractions (phil 4:8)
3. Quickly take the enemy out
(Luke 10:19- not to be used on people ;)
4. Then do your thang-laugh, love, live. (John 10:10)