Ever feel like you're spinning your wheels, getting nowhere fast, taking one step forward and two steps back? When my children were young I used to quote this little rhyme:

"Ladies and gentlemen, hobos and tramps,

Cross-eyed mosquitoes, and bow-legged ants.

I come here before you to stand behind you,

To tell you something I know nothing about."

They loved this nonsensical verse but that's all I knew of the poem. That's all I could remember of it from hearing it as a child. Recently I discovered that there are about twenty different versions of it. So kids, here's the rest of it that you always asked for...

"This Thursday, which is Good Friday,

There's a lady's aid meeting for fathers only.

It's absolutely free, just pay at the door,

Pull up a chair, and sit on the floor.

It doesn't matter where you sit, the man in the gallery is sure to spit.

It was a summer's day in winter, and the snow was raining fast,

As a barefoot boy with shoes on, stood sitting in the grass.

Oh, that bright day in the dead of night, two dead men got up to fight.

Three blind men to see fair play, forty mutes to yell "Hooray"!

Back to back, they faced each other,

Drew their swords and shot each other.

A deaf policeman heard the noise, came and arrested those two dead boys."

Some days it just fits, you know? Try as I might I seem to get more behind than ahead. My to-do list gets longer not shorter, the junk in my house grows, not diminishes, and my responsibilities are more not less. Unfortunately I find that, like Paul, this wishing one thing and doing another is a struggle in my spiritual life as well.

Romans 7:15-23 describes it perfectly. I can't understand how I can decide one way, then act another, doing things I absolutely despise. I can't seem to be trusted to do what's best for myself. I know what the law says but can't seem to keep it. The power of sin pulls me toward these bad decisions. I can't do it on my own. I want to do right and I decide to do good, but then am unable to do it. I choose not to do bad, then do it anyway. I can't follow through on my decisions. Sin gets the better of me every time. I love God's Word, but can't seem to obey it. We all struggle with sin, even when we want to do right we battle our old nature - we end up saying with Paul, "I've tried everything and nothing helps. I'm at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me?"(v 24)

Thank God! He has given us that answer in His Son, Jesus Christ who has done everything necessary to set my life right.

All for Him,

Missy

Labels: Missy