wood chopping thoughts...

I chopped wood yesterday and I decided to compare it to my spiritual life:

While swinging away with my hatchet I started to notice how utterly stubborn one particular piece of wood was being. I'm fairly certain that was half made of steel. But I thought to myself: no problem, if I keep chipping away it will eventually get to the point that it will break apart from the rest of the log. As I slowly and painfully inched my way through the wood I realized that the log was in no way planning on letting go of the branch it was so obstinately clinging to. It wasn't until I had chopped nearly completely through the entire log(it was hanging on by an inch) that it finally separated from the rest of the limb.

I think this situation can be compared to our lives as Christians. We are the log, God is the guy with the hatchet. The rest of the limb that we are clinging onto might be different for each person. For me I think it's fear and the desire to control things. God wants us and wants to make us useful for a purpose, but that can't happen until we can be willing to fully let go of the things we so desperately hold on to. It might not be too hard to give over some things to God, or to allow God to have part of us, but completely letting go and truly putting everything in Gods hands... that's a different story.

We can't be useful and functional for God until we let go. I can't put a log in my fireplace if it's still connected to a tree, and God can't use us to our full extent if we are still clinging to the world. Letting go isn't easy, it's a long process and painful at times. Luckily for us, God promises that when choose to cling to him rather than the world we can experience extreme freedom, peace and joy. The only difference between us and the log is that we don't end up getting burned in a fire, we get to live unattached to the things that once hindered us and instead be a part of God's perfect and pleasing will. hooray!