Put that down and stop hitting her!

Sounds like something your mother would tell at you as she tells you to leave your sister alone, doesn't it?

Well tonight as I assess the day, read, pray and digest, it's actually meant for me, and maybe you, and maybe my best friend, maybe even my guy friends? (Insert "stop hitting him") Who knows?

"Put that down. . ." refers to the weight of this world that we carry. Each morning we pick up our mantle, our burdens, our lack of satisfaction, our lack of measuring up. We pick up our guilt, maybe the day before we said something spiteful or hurtful or just plain ignorant to someone. Maybe we avoided them, lied, didn't give them our full attention? Maybe we even allowed them to sin against us and then we entered into their sin, leaving both of us carrying a weight? 

Pause for a moment. . .am I the only one? If so, yay. . .and Lord, hear my cry! Take these things from me Lord, as I repent and I ask for your forgiveness, as I forgive those who I may believe "provoked" me, Lord take them, take this weight.

And not magically, but through His covenant with us as our Savior, He picks them up and carries them away. He gives us the ability to never see them again. Ah, but not me, I wake up as if I'm in that movie Groundhog Day and I repeat my actions from yesterday! UGH! When will I learn?! (Understand now that this is my utterance, not the Lord's)

This is where the ". . .and stop hitting her" comes in. Because you see what I did there? Launched right back into picking up the weight that entangles my soul daily, and then lectured (hit) myself with how foolish I am to do it again! Wash, rinse, repeat. . .this is a daily routine for me, anyways.

STOP! That's not what God intends for us to do. Knowing that we could not follow the law and that we would battle our natural behavior our entire life, He sent Jesus. He sent Jesus to tell us about himself, He sent Jesus to tell us about ourselves and our design. He sent Jesus to tell us about how we are to see ourselves and others through His lense.

Jesus calls us many things, beloved, blessed, sheep without a shepherd, His children, His disciples, His friend, His family, His redeemed, overcomers! Amen!

But, do I wake up each morning calling myself that? Nope, I'd rather use, fat, single, immature, grumpy, messy-haired, out of style, broke, tired, and ultimately defeated, failure. (Feel free to insert the names you use here)

Put that down and stop hitting her!

Geesh! Can we start our mornings a bit differently from here on out? Let's try something new! Let's start with the names Jesus gave us, then let's see if any of those other unmentionables can even get near us!

As one if my favorite songs from the 90's (arguably containing other questionable lyrics, but has to be mentioned here, because it fits well and popped into my head just now) says:

"Regulators...mount up!"

Let's regulate this self deprecation, let's use that powerful inner voice that comes from the Spirit of Jesus that lives within us and let's stop carrying the weight and beating ourselves up! Give it a try and give me some feedback, let me know how it goes.

Blessings!

KT