Stuck

It was a Columbus Day holiday for my grandchildren and they came over to spend the day with me. We had sliders for lunch  and then we played outside, gathered acorns, played a crazy board game where you made silly sentences and went back outside.  It was a glorious day,  no need for field trips and there were no planned or designated activities.  But there were two favored events of the day.  Blake had found one of those big acorn still encased with the hat, and Catherine wanted one desperately, but no others had fallen to the ground. So the first adventure was to figure out how to get the huge acorns, eyed from the ground, to fall from the oak tree, the second event was to get a stuck ball out of another tree.  

My Catherine decided if she climbed the tree she could shake the branches hard enough to make them release the acorns.  She forgets she is four and big branches take some real strength to shake.  Nevertheless her mom, to accommodate Catherine's determined ploy, helped her climb up to the lowest branch, about six feet off the gound,  by hoisting her on her shoulders and pushing so that she could get a foothold on the first eligible limb.  She managed beautifully to get herself in position to shake the desired limb, but her little body could only barely wiggle the branch with the exposed acorns, and it would take a really good shake to make them fall.  She finally accepted defeat at least for a moment, reversed the process of getting down and went to get the football.  If she could not shake it, then she was going to get someone to force it down with a targeted hit.  Aunt Jamie was successful and so was mom, and the task had finally been laid to rest. Catherine was content to hold those huge acorns and call them her own.   

Then came the ball stuck in another tree across the yard. The neighbors had come to play and they brought a kickball with them. Within minutes the ball was kicked 15 or 20 feet into the heights of the tree. What is it about the challenge of targeting a ball with another thrown object that captivates an audience and begs for participation?  The ball was nestled in a high branch and protected by many other branches spread along side.  The kids, though they tried, were not able to throw high enough but they remained focused on the project. Jamie and Jennifer were solicited and upon each throw the kids would gladly retrieve the ball hoping that they would continue until project completion.Truly this game lasted for 30 minutes or so, and the attention span of the kids was not interrupted.  One more throw and Jamie had to go and sure enough the football that was being used to get the kickball out got stuck as well. Jamie had ended the game or so she thought, the kids were deflated, (kind of like we were at the Texas/WV football game on Sat.) and she felt bad leaving and found another ball and said one more try and she made an 'on target' hit, releasing the football so that the game could continue, and off she went. We had to call it quits but Jennifer too said one more try, and sure enough she hit the kickball with perfected aim and down it came much to the celebrations and accolades of her audience.

Two lessons here: one is being stuck, the other is perseverance. There are always things that are going to be out of our reach, some worthy of pursuit, some not.  But when there is a true desire to loosen something that is nestled in branches of defeat, or accidental 

mistake we have to tool up, take aim and continue to go after it until we have succeeded in accomplishing the mission to dismantle it 

and set it free. That something could be a grudge, a retaliation, a dream or even the next step to helping you make a move towards a desire of your heart.  

The acorn would have eventually fallen on its own, but it would have been in God's due season, for he planted it there. There are things that are better not messed with in our lives until God gives us a seasonal change in our hearts and allows us to dismantel something that has clearly been grafted into our lives. We have to trust His timing and ask for discernment as to what things are ready to be released and which things are not yet seasoned for His purposes.  It could be a relationship, a heartbreak, a health related venue, a financial crisis, a job regret, a misguided decision that rendered significant effects on not only your life but others, etc. God uses those very things to grow us and make us stronger in Him, and when we are filled to what he believes a capacity to carry on he will release us back into the world but in a strengthened  position of faith. 

On the other hand, when something that we have a personal attachment is lodged in heights that we cannot reach, and we have deemed it worthy to retrieve, we have to tool up, take aim and keep trying to loosen the grip of whatever it is that is holding it. Our tools begin with prayer, and then through faith and discernment if it is His will, God will help us manage to rattle the nestled object of desire; one hit at a time until it has finally been set free.  Courage, focus and perseverance are the mighty weapons needed to complete the job. But a note here, sometimes the very thing that we try so desperately to set free doesn't end up being the desired

feat after all; but I am convinced that God sometimes allows us to go through the drill so that we will reach still higher for His appointed desires rather than our own. For God does know the true desires of our heart and what will satisfy our longings and provide for our needs.

If you are feeling stuck yourself and your efforts to be freed from a particular situation seem to to be an impossible feat, call our for help, and count on God to rescue you.  He has a way of compensating for our mistakes, it is called forgiveness, and just as we get ourselves in positions that are way over our heads, God will take aim and help us to be released into the grace of His outstretched arms.  We need perseverance to accomplish our earthly goals,  God merely needs to be invited to participate, and he will faithfully answer the call for help.  

James 1:2-4

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.  Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

Romans 5:3-5

Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

Dear Lord, We all get stuck in the heights of dilemmas and we all need help to be released from the holds that have gripped us.  

There are seasons where we have to wait, and positions that we have to monitor, but always your will is in play for rescue and release.  Arm us with faithful perseverance, courage and a never give up attitude as we focus on your will for each of our lives.  

It is with sincere appreciation and gratitude that we off this prayer.  Amen            

Praise God wherever you are and whatever situation He has allowed you to be in . . . His glory will shine through!