I live in an old house,with old wooden floors.Splinters in your feet are a way of life here.At this moment I have 2 of them in the same foot.I cannot get them out.So day after day,each step I take I am reminded they are there. I have soaked,picked,poked ,Ive done it all except let someone take them out by slicing open my skin.So ,I just wait and hope that one day they work their way out of my foot.My splinters remind me of people in my life.One day your walking around just going about your day and ouch,now you have a painful annoying splinter stuck in your skin.You were just fine until they came along.Perhaps you have had a splinter in your foot for years, its there,some days you forget its even there ,other days it causes a lot of pain with each step.
We all have those type of people in our lives.The ones who rub us the wrong way,everything in their lives is a mess.They tell you every single detail of how unfair their life is,or all that has gone wrong....this week. Or maybe they are big mouthed and arrogant know it alls.Who we are forced to be around way too much. Each one of us has at least several of them in our lives. Face it, if everyone was as pleasant,kind and loving as us, life would just be hunky dory,a bed of roses,why it would be wonderful wouldn't it? But the fact is, we are always going to have these type of people in our lives ,as long as we draw breath and chose to surround ourselves with other human beings.Not what you wanted to hear was it?
A woman I know once compared us to rocks in a rock tumbler.Now if your child has ever owned one of these annoying things,you know how they work.You put ugly dirty rocks into the tumbler,you turn it on.the rocks tumble for days. They roll around banging into each other continuously.
You open it to check.their not done yet, so you add some water ,remove some of the goop at the bottom and turn it back on. Meanwhile the rocks are being thrown around,banging into the walls,into each other.It all sounds quiet painful to me.Finally one day you open the tumbler, take out the rocks.rinse them off and you are amazed at the shiny beautiful things in your hand.Could these be those ugly,dirty pieces of rock that you had placed in there just a short while ago?.They are now the most beautiful things you have seen.
Those rocks are us.If we didn't have annoying people, or trials in our life,we would remain those ugly , dirty rocks.Throw us in a job situation with someone we don't like,someone who grates on our last nerve.We have the choice,let the rock tumbler,tumble us around for a while.We will maybe try to love this person even though its the last thing we want to do. Regardless of how they treat us. We think what would Jesus do.
After a while we will start to shine a little more than we used to.We will soon see a pretty color or two emerging from underneath the gray, dusty surface.If we choose to stay in the tumbler we will eventually come out brand new and shiny, a different type of rock.
If we chose to climb out of the tumbler before we are finished,We will still be just a plain old run of the mill rock. When we need a little smoothing out,some sanding of the rough edges,a little perfecting, Rock tumblers and splinters would not be one of our choices as one of the ways to get the job done.We prefer light sanding, or gentle nudgings.
But as we all know these things do not get the job done that is needed.So if you feel like your life is one big tumble in the rock tumbler or that both of your feet are full of splinters. Each step may be a little painful for awhile.Or it may be a little uncomfortable as your tumbled about,but just think of how you will shine when the dirt and dust are wiped away.
Isaiah 64:8 O Lord,you are our father, we are the clay and You are the potter, and we all are the work of Your Hand.
James 1:3 For when you faith is tested,your endurance has a chance to grow.
Blessings
Dee
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