Stuck In The Mud?

Have you ever had a car stuck in the mud? A few years ago, when we were building our house, I was backing out of the driveway and I ran the front wheel of my Ford Ranger off the driveway. Not a big deal except it had been raining like crazy and mix that with the fact that we had no grass in the front yet, and what you have is a front yard that resembles a swamp. Needless to say the front driver-side of my truck sunk down until the axle was resting on the cement. Now, 4 cylinder Ford Rangers aren't equipped with the power of a full size truck and the fact that it was a worn out truck firing on only 2 and a half cylinders meant I was in trouble. Needles to say, I failed to maintain a good attitude. But, enough said about that.

I remember giving it gas and the back wheels just spinning on pavement. I did that a few times expecting somehow to get a different result. No such luck. I was stuck and it was going to take some work to get it out. I was going to get wet from the rain, muddy from the mud, and irritated with every passing minute.

Like my truck, I've managed to get my life into some pretty nasty ruts from time to time. If you are human I'm sure you can relate. I'm talking about those seasons in life, when you're not moving forward, and not even moving backward. Those times when you're just stuck. Perhaps, everything was going great and then somehow you found yourself derailed. Life is frustrating, but for some reason, nothing changes and there you sit, day after day, month after month, stuck. The cold hard fact is, nothing will change until you determine to make a change. You'll stay in that continuous cycle of rut dwelling until you decide to do whatever is necessary to get out of it.

With my truck, I had to try a new approach. I had to get out of the truck and come up with a plan to get the front end off the pavement. Had I just stayed in the truck giving it gas, I would still be there today. The reason we stay so long in our "life's" ruts is they require us to change. They require us to grow. And lets face it, we humans aren't always real keen on changing and growing. It's so much easier to stay where we are. We get comfortable with lifestyle choices, behavioral patterns, and the way things are that we resist anything that has the potential to mess up our comfort zone.

The life we live is a long journey, and I am nowhere near my destination yet. But, thank God I am nowhere close to the beginning. I've discovered though, growth along the journey only comes when I allow the Holy Spirit to mess with my comfort level. I only get out of the ruts in life when I determine to do something different. I only get unstuck when I step back, evaluate the depth of the rut, come up with a game plan, and then carry it out.

Are you in a rut right now? Determine to do whatever is necessary to get out of it. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you how to approach it and then get out and move forward.