Why does it seem that I wait until I face big changes to make the small ones?

Are you like that, too?  What I mean is this:  we’re facing a big change.  We’re going to move in October to Colorado and retire.  We’re going to put our house on the market.  So all of those small maintenance things that I was going to get to “eventually” have to be done now.

One of those is caring for our yard.  Sure, I mow.  I’ve even been known to trim the trees and the bushes.  With enough encouragement, I’ve even been known to rake the leaves.  However, things like de-thatching the yard were not even envisioned.

Thatch is that stuff between the good soil and green, growing grass that inhibits the grass from doing its best and keeps the soil from really retaining the moisture from the rains.  Thatch is a little bit of this and that little bit of that—moss, dead grass, decaying stuff—not good stuff.  It needs to be gone.  So you get a de-thatcher and let it do what it was made for.

I seem to see a sermon illustration in everything, so not surprisingly, de-thatching connected with living out faith.  The author of the Letter to the Hebrews writes in Chapter 12:  we must get rid of every weight and the sin that clings so closely and run with endurance the race set out for us, keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.  The author talks about de-thatching our lives.

We have this new life in Jesus.  This life is His gift to us.  On His cross, Jesus paid what we owed for our sin and set us free from the power of death.  Easter means that a big change has happened.  Jesus is alive!

This Easter season, as we continue to be amazed at this new life, ask the Holy Spirit and God’s Word to help you see the thatch in your life.  Maybe, there’s some stuff that is keeping you from growing in your faith or celebrating the love that has been poured into your heart and life.  Maybe, there’s some stuff that’s keeping you from keeping your eyes on Jesus.  Is it time to de-thatch?

Joy in the journey,

Pastor Jeff Shearier