Stuck Garden Hose

Leo (our 3 year old) and I were out hanging around the barn. At the barn, there’s always a garden hose lying around one place or another. And Leo loves garden hoses because Leo loves water. So it made sense when I looked up and found him tugging on the hose, pulling it towards an empty, spare, water trough. He had a brilliant idea and was on it! He was wanting to fill up the trough to “swim” in it. Great idea! Great self driven motivation shining through. He had an idea, he had a method of execution, and he was putting in the work to make it happen. He was pulling and pulling with all his might and almost made it to the trough with this hose… but all of a sudden he couldn't pull it any further. No matter how much energy he exerted, the hose just would not pull any further. So he called out for help. 

With examination we realized the hose was wrapped around the base of the tractor tire. Because I was backed up from the task at hand, I realized he needed that extra slack to accomplish the task at hand... and... the only way to get enough slack was to completely undo all of the work he just did, take the hose all the way back to the beginning, and feed it through and under the tractor instead of behind the tractor like he was doing. [Yes that was a long run on sentence because I want you to feel the level of work and exhaustion here.. it was going to be a lot of work!!] So when I told him what I was doing and took the hose from his hands to help him, he was mad and confused, until he realized what I was doing.

And then He spoke.

Sometimes we are pulling and tugging and trying so hard in life to get the hose to the water trough where it really does need to be. But sometimes things are a bit tangled. Sometimes, someone (maybe even you) drove a tractor right over the hose and shortened the length you would've otherwise had available. Though initially it may make no sense, sometimes you actually have to back up all the way to where things are kinked and tangled, and feed it back under the tractor [insert run on long winded sentence for emphasis- ha! ] and go a totally different route. Only when you do that, will you have enough slack and length to get to the trough where you need to be.

Sometimes there are other routes than the obvious one we see.

Sometimes there’s only enough length when we back up and go the right direction.

Sometimes we end up no where near the destination when things are out of line way back at the beginning.

Sometimes we cannot take another step until we get the kinks lined out.

Sometimes you can only get where you need to be when you put in the work to untangle.

Is there somewhere in your life where you just don't have enough slack in the hose? Is there somewhere you are pulling and tugging and just can't get to the trough? Is there somewhere you need to untangle or reroute so you can get to the destination? 

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Words for Digging Deeper

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” Matthew 11:28-30 NIV

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us..." Hebrews 12:1 NIV

“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland." Isaiah 43:18-19 NIV

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths." Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV