Sticky Fingers!

Have I ever told you how much I hate sticky fingers?  In fact, I can’t stand to have dirty hands at all!  Whenever I work outside in the yard I always wear gloves.  When I worked in the garden department at The Home Depot while attending Bible College, I wore gloves practically from the moment I walked into the department until I clocked out!  One of my supervisors even gave me special permission to take some of the more expensive gloves out of store stock as I was the only one of his employees that really used them… and didn’t keep losing them as he said others did!

Nowadays my one of biggest frustration comes whenever I am helping my wife to partake of her daily meals.  She has been on a liquid diet for a few years now and requires my assistance.  Most times things go pretty smooth but on days like today, I have to really make an effort at keeping the joy of the Lord at the forefront in our home!

This morning  Piper was having a little bit of difficulty swallowing and when I proceeded to give her one of her liquid medicines, it just so happened that the oral syringe I was using leaked out both the front and the back at the same time… Well, you can guess how that one went down… not too well!  As I drew the syringe out of the cup of syrupy medicine that I usually mix with yogurt, it shot out the front of the device all over Piper’s nice clean sweater and the arm of her wheelchair while dripping from the other end all over my shorts, legs and hands!

OH HAPPY DAY!

Well, I hate to say it, but my first intention was to toss the syringe across the dining room into the kitchen… thankfully I quickly reconsidered when I mentally pictured the additional mess that I would have to clean up, so I tossed it instead on the table, paused for a deep breath and through clenched teeth began to praise the Lord!  Then after I calmed down I grabbed an extra napkin (or two or three) and soaked up the gooey puddles on Piper and myself!  Once that was completed I figured that it was time to pray and take authority over the situation, as well as the rest of our day!

Now that a couple of hours have past and Piper successfully swallowed the rest of her medicines and some breakfast, I can look back and see some comparisons between that incident and the Word I studied in-between then and now.  Depending on the translation you read, Psalm 91:4 tells us that God’s “faithfulness, or truth, or stability, or certainty, firmness or trustworthiness is our shield and armor.” (God’s Word ©, CEV, Strong’s)  The next few verses go on to give various examples of things that can potentially come against us that we can overcome through our trust and dependence on His Word of truth.

You’ll notice that I said examples of potential things that can come against us.  When these disturbances enter into our daily activities we have an immediate choice to make.  We can let them distract us into a major snit and ruin our day or choose to quickly cast the irritations aside and trust in Papa God and His Word.  

You know what I did after I made myself praise the Lord earlier today… I got up, walked into the kitchen and washed my hands… and Whalla… I suddenly had clean hands again!  And the awful stickiness was but a distant memory!  Then I grabbed a wet sponge and a Brawny paper towel… you know the one that has “The strength to take on the tough messes” and cleaned up the floor before the dog lent his tongue to the cause (as I didn’t want him to lick up the medicine)!

Trusting and depending on the Word when faced with negative situations that are suddenly cast upon you is like walking away from the mess and washing the gunk of anger, fear and/or confusion from your personal decision making abilities!  It causes you to step back and make a Godly decision based on His facts and not those that are presenting themselves in the natural.

I’ve had to do this a lot lately when it comes to the needs of my wife and it has worked over and over again for me!  Not only does it clean up the mess and stickiness that wants to keep me attached to what I may be seeing before me, but it fills me with renewed expectations and bolsters my faith at the same time.  So just as I usually keep a damp cloth in a bowl on the dining room table throughout the day to meet the needs of situations like what happened to us this morning, I keep the Word of God brightly active in my heart and available to me in order to keep me free from things that do their best to stick to me throughout my day!

What do you think?  Will it be sticky fingers and a distracted day, or clean hands and a day that is free for us to listen to and follow the directions that Papa God has for us each new day?  Have a great new week, and as you do, keep asking yourself… “Who or What am I expecting to keep me free from ‘sticky’ situations today?”

Author's Note:  I want to thank all of you for not only reading our blog but for allowing me to write and sort through all the tough situations that we have been faced with over the last few years!  This blog has really helped me to see the hand of God in the midst of some rough and tumble times!  Thanks for all your encouraging words and prayers too!