Yesterday, as I was playing with my son at the park, he insisted that we bring his football along. With this I clearly had no issue, and pride bubbled over in my heart. He carried his ball around with him throwing it around and yelling, “Touchdown!” The only problem came when he decided he wanted to play on the equipment, climbing the stairs, and going down the slides, he wanted to take his ball. While he has a high level of coordination, many of the playground elements require two hands. I implored him to drop the ball so he could use both hands, but he refused because he wanted to keep the ball with him on the slide.
I think many of us go through life like this. We want to multi-task and carry so many things with us no matter what we are doing. At times we walk through life with one hand tied behind our backs, or in the case of my son, one hand carrying a football. While we continue about our lives and daily tasks, we may not realize how much these things slow us down. Things, thoughts, worries, emotions all can slow us down, if we let any of them master us.
I am thankful that I don’t have to carry these things with me, but am frustrated that I willfully often carry more than I need or should. Let us resolve not to be mastered by the things of this world, but cling to the Almighty God, and give them over in prayer.
Elpis and Shalom 