Fortify Your Walls

We are in the heart of spring. That means we’ve been experiencing the best of those blooming flowers that the April showers bought us. We are also experiencing more chirping and swatting at more than our fair share of insects, too! I was at an event for work recently and spent a few moments decompressing in my car after a long afternoon. It was such a beautiful day for early spring. A gentle breeze with temps that were closing in on just right. The sun was out and it was such a great day to be outdoors. As I sat in my car relaxing before making my drive back across town, I cracked my windows open for just a moment. As I sat there enjoying the breeze, I reminded myself that I wanted to be careful just how wide I left that window open. The smallest crack was an opening for all kinds of insects and I certainly didn’t want them helping themselves inside my vehicle.

I had to chuckle when I had the thought because I began to recall moments where it just didn’t seem to matter how wide or narrow that crack was. A bug would find its way inside. I’m sure others have a similar experience in one way or another. The windows in my home are pretty tightly sealed and I’ve been so happy about the lack of flies and other pests. Since moving in, though, I noticed that gnats don’t really care how tightly sealed you think your windows are. They will find their way inside. Flies are the same way. A tiny opening is all they need to follow you inside. My dog is an occasional lingerer and I’m often battling off flies at my back door while waiting for him to come inside. I use the word battle because that is sincerely how it feels at times. My neighbor gave me a few hacks to deter flies from hanging around the door and other things, but they are a group of determined insects.

The experience made me think about how spiritual attacks come with similar energy. The slightest opening is more than enough room for those troubles to slip in and suddenly take over. So why do we allow those small cracks in our spiritual defense? A few weeks ago, I touched on how our troubles can monopolize our focus. In the aftermath of a storm, all we can sometimes focus on is the storm itself. Even when it’s over. That’s how those little things begin to consume us. We have to begin to recognize those areas where that little is too much. We celebrate the small and the mighty, but we don’t always think about the impact that small and mighty can have when it’s not for our good. We hold on to small things because…well, they're small. Small usually means it won’t cause much harm or take up much space. That’s why some of our homes end up cluttered with so many knick knacks!

If you decide to take a stance against leaving cracks in your armor for the adversary to exploit, then you are making a choice that will enrich your spiritual living. I had a conversation with someone a few weeks ago about lifestyle changes. One of the things we noted was that when you make a sincere choice to change, because it’s sincere, you don’t go about it with only half the commitment. It’s full. Make a full commitment to live a life loving God. When you do that, you will have less space in your life for chaos. Those cracks in your armor can be made whole. 

Exchange your ashes for God’s beauty

Isaiah 61:3