Post published by Tao Jones

I process firewood from a woods behind my house on a fairly steep hill. This photo was taken yesterday after we had hauled a bunch of cut and split pieces of wood to the edge of the trees where we could load it into a utility vehicle to then transport it up to the house.

Can you see my little path in the middle of the photo? When we started to process of walking back and forth, this path was littered with little saplings, roots, and lots of deadfall. As we worked, part of what we did was to clear the path of any debris that might trip us up. Tripping on an incline while carrying a heavy load is no fun at all and can cause serious injury.

Sometimes, I'll spend an entire firewood work session just clearing a path in preparation for some future work. No one would think this time is wasted. Indeed, it is essential to completing the objective. Without putting in time and energy on this prep work, the "real" work of more directly achieving the end goal: manageable pieces of firewood at the house ready to be burned for heat.

It is the same for us in the battle against PMO. When debris that might trip us up is in our path, we must either find a different route to take or remove from the path those things that will cause us to fall. Failure to do so directly prevents us from achieving the end goal: a mind and heart free of lust. If we will not put time and energy into this necessary prep work, we will never attain this desirable objective.

I love that the Kingdom and our lives in it are so eminently practical! We can understand why we do what we do at every step of the process. It is hard work to be a disciple, but it is good work, not without deep satisfaction and a sense of accomplishment!