Of Adversaries and PuppyCats

The saga continues. Today, committed to be consistent in the fight for health, I set about to workout. I waiting until the bulldogs were cuddled up asleep in hopes they would not be distractions (see Yesterday's blog.) I got my video from Brickhouse Barre ready to go. Got my ball, my mat and my weights. I was going to knock this Tabata OUT! I was ready to fight the good fight toward a consistently healthy lifestyle. All went well until I looked up and saw Fin, our puppycat at the end of my mat, looking menacing. Within seconds, he pounced and attacked my ankle that I was trying to lift while contracting my core muscles.

I continued to lift my leg thinking he would give up if I persevered. He latched on with claws for dear life. I had to stop, pry him off and throw a toy his way to distract him. He came back for a second go round and thankfully, soon, that move was over and I got to stand up. He lost interest. I went back to exercising. As I went to sit back on the mat for another round of core moves, I noticed a large drop and smudge of something wet. Wet drops and smudges are common when the bulldogs help - it is drool, but this drop looked different.

It was blood. I checked out my ankle. It was bleeding.  I was faced with stopping, tending to the wound and starting over tomorrow or just going on, wound, blood and all and deal with that mess later and finish my work out. That is what I chose to do. Fighting with Fin and allowing that to halt my progress, did not serve my goal.

As I study today I continue on in Romans. At the very end of the letter, Paul writes to the new Christians in Rome that were constantly faced with opposition to their work of discipleship to consider seeing foes in a different light. He urged them to watch out for those causing division and creating obstacles. Avoid them because they don't serve the Lord. He made sure they understood that those that halted the progress of the work of the Lord are being driven by a larger foe, Satan, the Evil One. Allowing Satan to stop you, or halt your progress (or worse yet, keep you from even starting), especially in Kingdom work does not serve you. What does serve you, Paul reminds us is to be consistent, persevere and allow our obedience to the goal set before us to be shown to all. But what about that foe, the ankle grabbers and biters that draw blood. Those people in our path that stir us up and make us want to act outside of a person of grace? Or maybe the fear of their repercussions keep us from speaking up, saying what Christ would want us to say, or keep us from acting to bring about peace and justice? Let God handle them. Pauls says this: (In Eugene Peterson's word's in The Message), "Stay alert like this, and before you know it the God of peace will come down on Satan with both feet, stomping him into the dirt. Enjoy the best of Jesus!" In other words, let God serve you, and enjoy the work before you as you co-labor with Jesus. Let God take care fo the enemy.

So what did I do with the aftermath of the battle? I cleaned it up. I have mat cleaner and paper towels. And my foe, he was crushed by a big ole nap.



Today:

• Discover and find your peacemaking and justice work Christ is calling you to engage in.
• Check yourself - does it line up with the teachings of Christ and the totality of scripture?
• Get busy
• Don't let foes get in the way of your progress
• Let God handle the foes
• Clean up the mess when you are done.