Props

Webster defines a 'prop' as:

 

1.  an object placed beneath or against a structure to keep it from falling or shaking; a support. 

2.  One that serves as a means of support or assistance.

 

I've discovered recently that I have many props in my life.  I have 'things' that have come to support me and keep me from falling.  Things which I love and turn to in times of distress or turmoil.  They whisper to me when the chaos of the house is surrounding me.  They call out to me when I find myself in yet another situation beyond my control or influence.  They are near to me in times of trouble because I never allow myself to be too far away from their comforts.   They are my 'props'. 

 

It doesn't really matter what the props are.  They are different according to the circumstance.  For instance I often use caffiene to sustain me when I am tired.  Sometimes it's stolen moments of time to "vegitate" and do nothing because -boohoo- my life is hard and I want release.  Frequently, it is wrapped in the form of sympathy for me and my current plight and how unfair it all is.  As I said, it doesn't really matter what the form.  What really matters, is what I am loosing as a result of being propped up by superficial 'things' instead of leaning on my Creator. 

 

Why would I turn to another when I have Almighty God, my Father, making promises like these: 

 

"Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the Lord:

look to the rock from which you were hewn,

and to the quarry from which you were dug,

Look to Abraham your father

and to Sarah who bore you; for he was but one when I called him,

that I might bless him and multiply him.

For the Lord comforts Zion;

he comforts all her waste places

and makes her wilderness like Eden,

her desert like the garden of the Lord;

joy and gladness will be found in her,

thanksgiving and the voice of song."

 

Isaiah 51:1-3

 

I serve the one true God who promises to strengthen me, sustain me, comfort me and still, I turn to passing, empty fixes that only bandage the problem.  Shame, shame......and almost laughable.  I mean, caffiene vs. GOD, tv  vs.  HIS WORD,  a glass of wine vs.  time in prayer........Really?!  These are the choices I've been making?! 

 

Now don't confuse what I am saying.  There is nothing wrong with a glass of wine or having a coke.  That's not wrong, at all.  It's what these items are replacing.  It's when they are filling a need; serving a purpose; propping me up so I can go on.  That's when I have a problem.

 

I am re-evaluting what I do and why I do it.  It is time. It is time to forsake the PROPS and turn to the One whose comfort is real and lasting.   

 

Now someone hold me to it......I know my heart too well.