A brown rabbit stuck to a dark tar figure in a quiet corn field at dusk, paused in a moment of realization

In the Middle of the Mess

Br’er Rabbit and the Trouble of Trying Harder

Today is one of those days. We all have them. Let’s admit it. You try to do something, and it just seems to fall apart. You feel unproductive and a bit discombobulated. And somewhere in the middle of it, there’s this quiet pressure… that you have to be perfect.

Have you ever had one of those days? That’s my day today. Let me show you the mess around me.

Do you remember when you were a child sitting outside in a mud puddle? Or maybe think of Br’er Rabbit. He’s a good example.

As the story goes, there is a tar baby in the field, and the rabbit hits it, then realizes he can’t pull his fist away. So he hits it again… and again… until every part of him is stuck to it.

Well, that is my day. It seems I keep getting stuck, one spot after another. I am so stuck that I have decided to give up at this moment. I wonder if that rabbit ever decided to give up.

Let’s stop and look at the situation. Br’er Rabbit kept fighting it. Maybe he should have stopped after the first punch.

That is kind of what I am doing now. I am stopping to reevaluate my situation. Sometimes, you just need to stop and breathe.

How do you handle those days when everything you attempt seems to be a roadblock? Your efforts feel fruitless. Do you keep punching through it, hoping to make it through, or do you stop, evaluate, and offer the situation to God for Him to resolve? You know He will give you guidance.

As I sit here with my thoughts in God’s presence, I am listening for Him to show me what the best answer is. I am allowing Him to flow through my mind, my hands, and my body, guiding me where and what I need to do.

I feel as though I am still screwing up, like that dang Br’er Rabbit. Didn’t he know that if he had just stopped for a minute to breathe, to be in the moment, his situation would have resolved without all the extra effort… all that reacting?

Maybe that’s what this looks like. Everything begins to fall together when we allow Him to move through us. We don’t need to be the most beautiful, the most eloquent, or the richest for Him. He just wants us to be with Him and allow Him to work through us.

That is what I should do with my mess today.

What about you? How are you going to handle your mess?

“For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel,
‘In returning and rest you shall be saved;
in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.’”

~Psalm 30:15

And maybe today…
I am learning to see differently.

“Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart…”


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