It happens when hubby comes home after a business trip. It also happens when summer arrives. Sometimes I refer to “it” as the re-entry period and we need to be pretty careful that we all don’t burn upon re-entry.
If you’re not immediately familiar with this occurrence, let me explain a bit. See, when my husband is out of town for a little while, it can be easy to eat just cereal for dinner and not keep up with the house. Or maybe just fall into habits that suit my tastes and are done “my way”. However, when he comes home, his shoes are now on the floor and his bag is in my path and he’s hungry and, well, basically I can no longer be selfish and demand my own ways.
Now, this can also happen when summer time hits. Our school routine no longer works. There is more free time, more energy to be spent, more people in the house. We all need to re-configure how we’re going to live together peacefully.
Does this happen to you at all? Maybe after a vacation? Perhaps some other time. But, it basically comes down to the rubber meeting the road during a change. When our new reality happens, how does our flesh respond? If you’re anything like me, it can bristle up and become a little wild.
Several years back we visited the Outer Banks and witnessed the beautiful, but very wild, ponies. They were running loose, completely free and very independent creatures. Lately, as I consider my own flesh when it chooses to sin instead of to obey, I remember these wild ponies. When my flesh rises up in goosebumps of anger, I feel justified in unleashing on those nearby. Or when I want my way, I run headlong into getting my needs fulfilled regardless of others’ desires. Knowing God’s Word yet choosing my own path demonstrates my independence from the One who made and loves me.
Picturing myself as a wild pony every time I giddy-up into sin can be a helpful visual for me. It stops me short and reminds me of God’s truth. When I walk by the flesh, I may think there is freedom, but in reality there is only bondage and condemnation. When I live by the Holy Spirit, though, my wild flesh is subdued and this pleases God. May we all be tamed by His glorious Spirit and experience the unleashed freedom that His righteousness brings!
There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. Romans 8: 1-2
Love, Wendy
