{"id":34,"date":"2015-08-27T18:35:09","date_gmt":"2015-08-27T23:35:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordsfromthehomefront.com\/?p=34"},"modified":"2016-08-22T18:37:47","modified_gmt":"2016-08-22T23:37:47","slug":"how-surrender-is-clearly-revealed-in-a-murky-pool","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordsfromthehomefront.com\/index.php\/2015\/08\/27\/how-surrender-is-clearly-revealed-in-a-murky-pool\/","title":{"rendered":"How Surrender is Clearly Revealed in a Murky Pool"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yesterday, I went out to the pool to do the usual maintenance and was stopped in my tracks. I walked along the edge of the pool, staring into a turquoise, murky mess with skimmers clogged with leaves. It’s summer. What in the world?<\/span><\/p>\n

I could not see the bottom of the pool. It had rained the day before with two heavy downpours accompanied by strong winds. I was seeing the results. The chemicals in the pool hadn\u2019t been able to compensate for the detritus that the rain had brought. I had my work cut out for me.<\/span><\/p>\n

On another front, I had been dealing with a situation that was complex and needed a quick resolution if a large, unexpected expense was to be avoided.\u00a0 In my eagerness to restore equilibrium I could only see what was apparent to anyone. There needed to be a change and quickly. I could only see one resolution. The one of my own making.<\/span><\/p>\n

I learned two things {again} from those examples given to me yesterday.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 1. There are times I have to address an issue immediately when the solution is obvious.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 2. There are times when I have to sit, be still, turn it over and let the Lord handle it.<\/span><\/p>\n

He gives us a brain, He gives us ability, and He gives us the proper tools.\u00a0 It\u2019s what we do with these that can make all the difference.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the first instance I took the most likely action that would restore the pool to its usual state of sparkling blue clarity; trusting that the mixture of the chemical treatment and physically addressing the removal of leaves, etc. would quickly resolve the murk.<\/span><\/p>\n

On the second issue, I spent the entire day turning possibilities over and over in my head. I tried to reach the likeliest outcomes from every angle I could perceive and the damage control that would be required to minimize the expense that would be incurred in each instance. My minimalist conversation with the Lord was one-sided and rather short.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLord, how in the world can You provide something so good and take away a portion of that provision at the same time?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

I think you can see where I\u2019m going with this. It goes back to the one word that keeps staring back at me when I look at my blog.\u00a0Surrender<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The murky pool was the object lesson. The one thing was showing me what I needed for the other. There are times when we cannot see clearly; the whole picture is murky and complex. On the surface, we see a little, but the deeper we go the more difficult it becomes. The solution becomes more elusive.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Worst Case Scenario\u201d kept my thoughts occupied. Instead of turning to God and laying out my case to Him and trusting Him for the best solution I kept wanting to\u00a0do something<\/em>. I didn’t want to wait. I wanted it wrapped up and tied in a bow solved.<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

What strength have I left, that I should wait and hope? And what is ahead of me, that I should be patient? Job 6:11<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Then He did something that brought my consuming thoughts to an abrupt halt by resolving the issue that was really out of my hands from the beginning.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This morning, I am fully amazed, not at His provision, but at my dullness and density. Like looking at the murky water and not seeing the bottom, I could not see the solution, but He could.<\/span><\/p>\n

It was His action that was needed to take care of the problem-not my dithering about. I was not able to change one thing about that situation. His grand resolution showed me that my self-reliance interferes with my ability to surrender.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still. Exodus 14:14<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Again.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday, I went out to the pool to do the usual maintenance and was stopped in my tracks. I walked along the edge of the pool, staring into a turquoise, murky mess with skimmers clogged with leaves. It’s summer. What in the world? I could not see the bottom of the pool. It had rained … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[26,7,27,28],"class_list":["post-34","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","tag-one-word","tag-surrender","tag-trust","tag-wait"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordsfromthehomefront.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordsfromthehomefront.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordsfromthehomefront.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordsfromthehomefront.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordsfromthehomefront.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wordsfromthehomefront.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35,"href":"https:\/\/wordsfromthehomefront.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34\/revisions\/35"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordsfromthehomefront.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordsfromthehomefront.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordsfromthehomefront.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}