Lose Something by Barry Hughes



As some of you know, I am a person of routine. I like to fancy myself “disciplined” and “regimented”. Those who are around me most probably prefer terms like “compulsive” and “eccentric”. Be that as it may, I DO walk a certain route through the streets of my neighborhood in the same direction, every day. I know how many steps I’ll get in. I know how much time it will take me to arrive back at home. And I know that every so often I will find something child-related laying lost and alone on the same corner.
Once it was a pacifier. Another time it was the world’s tiniest hoodie. This trip, I came upon a lone, solitary little pink sock. Only at this one corner have I ever found such items. I wonder what it is about this “Bermuda Triangle” of the area. Things get left behind.
The scriptures call us to do things like “lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely” and to “forget what lies behind and strain forward to what lies ahead”. This little left-behind sock brought these childhood memory verses to serve as my companions this day.
What is it in my life that I might use these strange and disruptive days to “lay aside”? What sin clings to me and impedes my progress in becoming the person I could be, the person God wants me to be, the person I always intended to be before I was sidetracked along the way? What do I need to “forget”, to finally let go of and leave on the corner as I move forward in my life?
Perhaps we should give ourselves this gift during these difficult days. Perhaps we take a walk through our life and leave a few things on the corner behind us: Guilt. Shame. Habits we know are destructive. Unrealistic expectations. Bitterness. I know the list of those things that trip me up and hold me back from experiencing all God has for me. What about you?
I think I’m going to lose something on my walk today. And I am thankful.
Peace.

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