I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire. (Luke 24:32)
Yay, it’s time to go to the festival!
Thankfully you have an umbrella stroller for the baby. Just unfold it, strap him in, and off you go.
Watch out for rocks, though. And uneven sidewalks. And sticks.
In fact, just watch out for everything, because the wheels on an umbrella stroller are so janky that even a pebble can potentially block the wheel.
On the other end of the stroller spectrum is the jogging stroller. You can actually run with a jogging stroller and its big wheels will easily roll over all the little obstacles, giving baby a smooth ride.
This is a good illustration for life, because as you know, life is full of little obstacles that can stop you in your tracks. But listen: they don’t have to.
You can approach life as a little janky hard plastic stroller wheel, or you can approach life as a big shock absorbing jogging stroller wheel.
When little hard wheels hit an obstacle there is a noticeable lurch. It can even stop you in your tracks. And that’s how some people are with little offenses. They take the hit. It stops them in their tracks. It gets them off course. They get upset. They get angry. How dare you!
But some people have learned how to be the big stroller wheel. When little offenses come their way, they roll right over them, hardly even noticing. There is no lurch. They aren’t stopped in their tracks. They don’t get knocked off course. They don’t get upset. They don’t angry. They don’t scream, “How dare you!” They just keep going because, like a big stroller wheel, they had the ability to glide right over all the little offenses.
You can tell the little stroller wheels because they are prickly about everything. All the little offenses stop them. And they have to stop and talk about them, over and over. “I’ll never forget what so and so did to me.”
It’s so much better to be the big stroller wheel and just roll past offenses. You have things to do, places to go, missions to accomplish. You can’t be stopped by every little offense, so like a big stroller wheel, just smoothly roll right over them.
Proverbs 19:11 says a wise man is slow to anger and overlooks offenses. That’s the big stroller wheel! It just rolls over offenses and keeps going.
If you want to make your life so much better, get rid of the umbrella stroller attitude. Stop getting hung up on every little offense. It’s not worth it, and babies get dumped in the process.
Instead, be the big stroller wheel. Be the wise person from Proverbs 19:11 who knows when to overlook an offense and just keep rolling.
You’ll get farther. You’ll go faster. And no babies will be harmed in the process.
May God bless you today.
I’m Doug Apple.
No comments:
Post a Comment