Saturday, April 17, 2010

Oooops

A while back our book club read Knitting by Anne Bartlett. The story is not really about knitting at all, although the heroine, Martha, does knit. The interesting thing that Martha does is take a small suitcase and two large bags with her everywhere she goes. To church, on the bus, to work, to tea in the afternoon, everywhere. The bags are cumbersome, hard to maneuver, and sometimes rule where she goes, where she sits, whether or not Martha can do the things she wants to do. The story weaves around the relationship between Martha and Sandra, Kate, and Cliff. It is not until the end that we find out about those bags and the suitcase: they contain all of Martha's knitting mistakes. Everything she has ever done wrong and intends to fix but either cannot or does not have time. In the end, the knitting mistakes do get corrected, but not by Martha. I won't reveal how - in case you want to read the book!

I have a couple of small knitting mistake projects. One has been in a bag for about 5 years, another for 2 years. There they sit, reminding me that I didn't do something right. They just sit in the craft room - I certainly don't want to take them anywhere with me!

How many of us are guilty of carrying our life's mistakes everywhere we go? My hand is raised high in the air right now. It is where the evil one can push my buttons. I can dredge up things I did in my childhood and they will bother me and haunt me. Our pastor challenged us on the first Sunday of 2010 to lay down those things that burden us and haunt us - lay them at Jesus feet and let them go. The things we drag around are just as heavy and burdensome as Martha's bags and suitcase. Yet we continue to drag around junk with us all the time.

This is still a challenge for me. I am not there - God is not finished with me yet. Am I alone in this or there others who are dragging stuff around that has no purpose in their Kingdom work? Let's pray for each other to dump the useless stuff.

5 comments:

Gregg Metcalf said...

It is tough not to drag our sin around with us. Unfortunately and ultimatly it means we do not trust in the cleansing power of the blood. It also means we don't trust God when He says our sin was imputed to Christ.

May God deliver us from our pride and love of ourselves as we "love" to carry around and bring out our baggage of sin in order for people to feel sorry for us.

Good post and a great and timely reminder!

Grammy said...

Oh, My, you are so right. I think that even after God has forgiven us, we find it difficult to accept His forgiveness and forgive ourselves. A really good post. Thanks,
Ruby

Arlee Bird said...

Amen to that. Too many people drag that junk and let it interfere with progress. It's best to accept that the past is something we cannot change, but the future is something we can influence and today is our time to enjoy and be thankful for the life that God has given us.
Lee
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Wanda said...

As I was reading about the story about the bags, I was thinking this is a metaphor for life. No Linda, you're not alone. I've carried somethings with for years (some knowingly and others I was unaware). I haven't arrived but God is giving me the grace and courage to let some things go. Enjoyed this post.

Ella said...

It is hard to move onward, sometimes!
We need to forgive ourselves and lessen our baggage~ Great O post~