Have you ever been vacuuming your house and the vacuum cleaner just seemed so terribly heavy? You know that the bag (or rather the inner container that holds the sucked up dirt) is probably full, but it’s such a burdensome job to change it! You kick on the front of the vacuum just to see how full the bag really is – you know – whether or not it’s to the point where it’s “packed” or not (knowing full well is must be or else the machine wouldn’t feel like you’re pushing around an 18 wheeler!) and you nearly break your toe on the BRICK that’s formed in the bottom of the bag!!
Have you ever been vacuuming your house and the vacuum cleaner just seemed so terribly heavy? You know that the bag (or rather the inner container that holds the sucked up dirt) is probably full, but it’s such a burdensome job to change it! You kick on the front of the vacuum just to see how full the bag or really is – you know – whether or not it’s to the point where it’s “packed” or not (knowing full well is must be or else the machine wouldn’t feel like you’re pushing around an 18 wheeler!) and you nearly break your toe on the BRICK that’s formed in the bottom of the bag!!
And then, while you’re at it, you turn over the vacuum cleaner just to check on the little roller thingy that’s designed to “beat” the dirt out of your carpet, knowing it’s probably wrapped up with tinsel from Christmas, no telling what from the kid’s toys and the ever popular “rug strings” all wrapped around the roller and binding it up. So you finally just throw up your hands and admit it’s time to do something about it. If you don’t, real problems will occur, because most likely the motor will burn up or you’ll break a belt and then you won’t be able to use it at all. There would be a big price to pay! You’d either have to take it to the repair shop or, worse yet, go by a whole new one at Walmart (you know this because you’ve had to before)! After all, without a vacuum cleaner, your whole house would just be a mess! So you grab a new bag and a pair of scissors, plop yourself down on the floor and decide to do vacuum cleaner surgery. It’s funny, too, because it seems like you JUST got through doing this very same thing last week, yet look, it’s already in need of attention.
Isn’t that what our lives are like? So often we get to the point where our bag gets full and it doesn’t just need cleaning, it needs changing. But it’s one of those uncomfortable chores that we just hate to face and we put it off and put it off. It’s hard to finally just admit that it’s time to take action on the faith that we’ve been claiming, and it’s time to make a change. That means taking out the old stuff that’s been building up, getting rid of it and asking the Lord to help us, forgive us and to renew us with a fresh anointing, a new attitude, a renewed desire to serve him, a heightened hunger for His Word – to make us a clean vessel.
More times than not cleaning the rollers is required too – cutting away and releasing those strings that tend to bind us. We are usually the ones who vacuum over the rug strings, and we’re usually the ones who have to accept the responsibility of cutting them. Sometimes, however, other people in our house and lives do the vacuuming and they’re the ones who run over the strings that wrap so tightly around those rollers. And because they do some of the vacuuming as well, they’re partially responsible for your bag getting full. No, it’s not right. And no, it’s not fair. But that doesn’t change the fact that we have to be the ones to sit on the floor with patience and make the changes that need making in order to get the machine back in dependable working order and do away with the threat of burning up. Not only does the effort help us individually, but it makes it easier for everyone around us who does the vacuuming.
How about we decide now to be determined to keep a close watch on our “inner containers” and “rollers”. Don’t let things build up to the point of burning out or binding up. Keep an eye on those little things that slowly bind you up. They usually don’t mean much one at a time, but when all those strings are on that roller at once, it takes more than just your own strength to loose them. The Lord will help you if you ask him, “Lord, please help me be aware every minute of the things in my life that might bind me and keep me from serving you the way you would have me to. Help me to stay in your Word, to worship and praise you, and to stay in continual prayer and communication with you so that my vessel is never to the point of burn-out, but rather a constant, steady fire. With Your help, I know I can make it because your Word says I can do “all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
Linda King Wilson
Originally Written 09/27/2013
Updated 01/10/2020
And then, while you’re at it, you turn over the vacuum cleaner just to check on the little roller thingy that’s designed to “beat” the dirt out of your carpet, knowing it’s probably wrapped up with tinsel from Christmas, no telling what from the kid’s toys and the ever popular “rug strings” all wrapped around the roller and binding it up. So you finally just throw up your hands and admit it’s time to do something about it. If you don’t, real problems will occur, because most likely the motor will burn up or you’ll break a belt and then you won’t be able to use it at all. There would be a big price to pay! You’d either have to take it to the repair shop or, worse yet, go by a whole new one at Walmart (you know this because you’ve had to before)! After all, without a vacuum cleaner, your whole house would just be a mess! So you grab a new bag and a pair of scissors, plop yourself down on the floor and decide to do vacuum cleaner surgery. It’s funny, too, because it seems like you JUST got through doing this very same thing last week, yet look, it’s already in need of attention.
Isn’t that what our lives are like? So often we get to the point where our bag gets full and it doesn’t just need cleaning, it needs changing. But it’s one of those uncomfortable chores that we just hate to face and we put it off and put it off. It’s hard to finally just admit that it’s time to take action on the faith that we’ve been claiming, and it’s time to make a change. That means taking out the old stuff that’s been building up, getting rid of it and asking the Lord to help us, forgive us and to renew us with a fresh anointing, a new attitude, a renewed desire to serve him, a heightened hunger for His Word – to make us a clean vessel.
More times than not cleaning the rollers is required too – cutting away and releasing those strings that tend to bind us. We are usually the ones who vacuum over the rug strings, and we’re usually the ones who have to accept the responsibility of cutting them. Sometimes, however, other people in our house and lives do the vacuuming and they’re the ones who run over the strings that wrap so tightly around those rollers. And because they do some of the vacuuming as well, they’re partially responsible for your bag getting full. No, it’s not right. And no, it’s not fair. But that doesn’t change the fact that we have to be the ones to sit on the floor with patience and make the changes that need making in order to get the machine back in dependable working order and do away with the threat of burning up. Not only does the effort help us individually, but it makes it easier for everyone around us who does the vacuuming.
How about we decide now to be determined to keep a close watch on our “inner containers” and “rollers”. Don’t let things build up to the point of burning out or binding up. Keep an eye on those little things that slowly bind you up. They usually don’t mean much one at a time, but when all those strings are on that roller at once, it takes more than just your own strength to loose them. The Lord will help you if you ask him, “Lord, please help me be aware every minute of the things in my life that might bind me and keep me from serving you the way you would have me to. Help me to stay in your Word, to worship and praise you, and to stay in continual prayer and communication with you so that my vessel is never to the point of burn-out, but rather a constant, steady fire. With Your help, I know I can make it because your Word says I can do “all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
Linda King Wilson
Originally Written 09/27/2013
Updated 01/10/2020
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