The Church Mouse
“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” (Proverbs 3:5-6)
Once upon a time there was a little boy and girl who loved their mother so much that they wanted to do something nice for her. So after much thought they decided that washing the dishes was something they could do. So they waited until she went outside to work in her garden.
They loaded a few dirty and a lot of clean dishes into the portable dishwasher. They finally got it full of dishes and put in the soap. They closed the lid, and pushed to the sink. After much difficulty and getting very wet, they got the water hooked up! They pushed several buttons…before they remembered that the dishwater had to be plugged in to the wall. Since they were strictly forbidden to plug anything into the electric; they debated the issue. Finally, it was decided that the oldest would go ahead and plug in the machine. Much to their delight the machine began to make noise and they could hear water sloshing around. Mission accomplished!!
The children knew it would take a while for the machine to complete the wash cycle; so they went outside to play. They promptly forgot all about the dishwasher………that is until later when they heard their mother who had re-entered the house, screaming.
Thinking that their mother was injured they rushed into the house. To their surprise mother was okay; but………
the kitchen sink was full of giant piles of bubbles, the counter near the sink was covered in bubbles, and the kitchen floor had about a foot of bubbles covering it around the dishwasher!!
You guessed it. These children, with good intentions, had filled the dishwasher with Ivory liquid soap, not dishwashing machine detergent; thus all the suds and bubbles.
What a mess!
Good intentions gone awry!!!
Now, these children had a wonderful idea to help their mother. But not knowing all the details and the workings of the job they were undertaking they made a bigger mess.
If only they had asked for help…if only they had not done something they were forbidden to do! If only………..
There is an old saying. “They road to hell is paved with good intentions.”
We as Christian are often found to have made a big mess of something we thought we could do on our own. We just knew God was too busy for us to bother Him with such a small task. So we forged ahead, on our own and made a big mess in our lives.
Now, I am not saying that I always ask God before I do something, but I do pray about a lot of things I attempt to do.
If I didn’t have God’s guidance in these things…well who knows what I would say or do? I can get in trouble with his guidance! Imagine what it would be like if I didn’t pray and ask for his help?
What I am trying to say is we all need to pray more and about everything in our lives. Big or small. We need to pray. remember the Apostle Paul said. “to pray without ceasing.” Some of us remember that. But some of us think that a prayer in the morning, before eating and at bedtime is more than enough prayer to get them through the day.
Not true, God wants us to invite him into our busy days. He is waiting to help us with every task we want to accomplish.
Remember you can pray for anything, anywhere and anytime. (Note-if you are driving a car, please don’t close your eyes!)
Prayer: In the name of Jesus, I come seeking your divine guidance and direction for my life. Please cleanse me of any worldly wisdom, any selfish motives, and pride that may draw me away from you. I thank you in advance for your presence in my life. Help me to be strong and of good courage as you lead me in the way that I should go. Give me the faith to follow the path that you have chosen for me. I will give you all the glory, honor and praise. Amen!
the Church Mouse
Work hard; Pray harder!
