Sand In my Shoes!!!!

Early mornings!!

Zaine dress up, Zem come take your bath, 

Zaine this and Zem that!!! 

My mornings are generally characterised by routines; 

early morning squeals,bargaining,tears,tantrums, the rush to get the entire family's day going, and the million and one things I need to remember and do before I make the dash to catch my bus.

Every morning I am running out of the house in a mad dash just so I can make the bus in time, the mornings I do, a certain wave of accomplishment washes over me and the days I don't, oh well, too bad. lol

One of the things I really love about being a mum is forming fun routines that our kids love and look forward to and one of which has been my morning exit routine. The kids all come to see me off and I demand from them a kiss and a hug.

Couple of weeks ago, as I made my way out in my usual hurried fashion, my little girl insisted on a hug, a kiss on her cheek and nose, plus a high five. As I finally broke a way and made my typical 100 meter sprint to the bus stop, I had the most uncomfortable feeling in my right shoe, here I was with literally 2 mins to go before the bus arrived and yet, I couldn't run or walk any faster. Something was slowing me down.

It was a discomfort I had gotten used to, somehow, I had been alright the days before,

but on this particular day, it was just so unbearable.

I had Sand in my shoes!!!!

I knew I should have gotten rid of it, days ago but somehow I had managed okay and kept ignoring it till it had gotten to the point where I could no longer put it off. As I stopped and bent to take my shoes off, the all so familiar sound of the bus greeted my ears, yes, you guessed right, it arrived and swiftly sped off, leaving me and my sandy shoes behind. How dreadful.

I was so close, but yet, I missed it simply because of the annoying sand in my shoes that I had ignored for days, until, it costed me arriving early at work.

As I sat fuming in the cold, waiting 15 mins for the next bus to arrive, I remembered a familiar scripture;
Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, songs of sol 2:15.

What started off as just a little insignificant pebble, became such a big inconvenience that costed me time and energy.

I considered the many ways I had become comfortable with so called little foxes in my own life, eg
entertaining that thought here and there, buying into that little lie,  procrastinating?
How about just a little more sleep, a little prayerlessness, a little gossip, a little selfishness, a little ingratitude, a little jealousy and a long list of a little this and that. Lord have mercy !!!

It has been months since then yet the lessons from the sand in my shoes have reechoed in my ears and now more than ever as we draw so near to the end of 2019, I feel like God is drawing my attention to the many little foxes that I allowed limit me this year.

Honestly there have been many, and if I really do want my 2020 to be that year that I break through on every side then I must really look inwardly, pay close attention to, and address, habits, character flaws, wrong mindsets, negative confessions, areas of indiscipline, ignorance, appetites and predilections that have costed me and made me miss the mark this year.

What little foxes have you allowed into your life and become comfortable with that if you do not address would cost you your God given destiny, your marriage, career, business, academics, relationships etc?

And as we sit and prayerfully review our year, it is not a time to compare ourselves with anyone else or feel discouraged by the level of progress we made, but to truly take stock and ask ourselves hard questions, and consider the little foxes impeding our full potentials from being attained.

I am praying that God would reveal them to us and grant us the grace and wisdom to re-calibrate and re-strategise.

May He grant us the power to overcome repeated patterns through the help of the holy spirit and  may our lives be flooded with God's light and truth.

May we find the courage to chase away and shut our gates, so little foxes have no access to return back into our lives, in Jesus mighty name, Amen.

God bless and keep you.!!!

You are loved and cherished!

ⒸThiswomanoffaith

Provs 24:33 - 34 : A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man.

Gal 5:9:   A little leaven leavens the whole lump. 

Phil 3:13-14: Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have laid hold of it. But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on towards the goal to win the prize of God's heavenly calling in Christ Jesus.