Drop the Dog Poop

We live in an awesome area where there are parks and playgrounds all around us. Now that my oldest, Ace, is out of preschool for the summer, we are out exploring one of them almost every day. Ace was gathering sticks from under the trees at one of these parks and then climbing a bridge to drop them in the water below and watch them float down the stream. What a fun, low-effort activity! I thought. Ace could have some independence he’s been craving lately while he found sticks and I’d just supervise at the top of the bridge to keep him from leaning over too far and accidentally going for a swim.

But like most days with my boys, this activity took an unexpected turn.

Ace climbed up to the top of the bridge to meet me with a big grin on his face and proudly opened his hands to show me his prized stick collection. “Good jo-” I stopped as something fell out of his hand to the ground. It was dog poop! Ah, yuck! I kicked it away from us. But Ace was insistent this was a keeper. He picked it right back up to add it back to his pile. Drop it! I instinctively yelled. He did and I kicked it off the bridge, trying to explain to him how that was yucky dog poop, not something to hold in his hand. He wasn’t happy about it but moved on to throw his other sticks in the water.

Needless to say, a day at the park is never boring with my Ace!

As we packed up and started our walk home, I began praying. God, am I like Ace? Holding onto what You know is dog poop compared to You, but I keep going after it, convinced I want it in my life?

In Mark 10, a rich young man runs up to Jesus and asks Him, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus lists off commandments for him, to which the man responds that he has followed all of them since his youth.

Then, verses 21 + 22 read like this:

“And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, ‘You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.’ Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.” Mark 10:21-22 (ESV)

How tragic. This man gets the answer to his question from Jesus, finds out how to receive the very thing he thinks he desires most in this world, and walks away sad because he couldn’t bring himself to follow through.

This man seemed to have good intentions. Eager, even, to hear from Jesus and get guidance on what to do with his life. And it says Jesus looked at him and loved him. Jesus knew this man’s heart. Just like He knows our hearts, intimately and completely. Jesus knew the entanglement of his heart, the thing keeping him from fully giving his life to following Jesus: his possessions. And when Jesus exposed the man’s own heart to him and offered freedom from it, the man walked away defeated. Defeated by the very thing Jesus was telling him to let go of. He chose to keep his wall up between his heart and Jesus.

Jesus told him to drop it. Give it away. Be free from what keeps you from Me. Tear down the wall you’re letting take residence in your heart, separating us. And follow Me. But he decided he couldn’t do it, and instead of walking in the freedom Jesus was offering him- he walked away in sorrow.

How easily we can find ourselves doing the same as this man. We eagerly walk up to Christ and show Him all that we’re holding in our hands and He tells us something we’re holding onto is dog poop in comparison to what He has for us. Then we hesitate when He asks us to drop it, leave it behind, and follow Him.

A lot of times, we may not realize how something is stunting our relationship with Him until He exposes our hearts’ entanglements to us. Ace had no idea he had picked up dog poop. He just thought it was a good option to grab and make a splash in the water.

Ace didn’t recognize the poop as something he needed to get rid of.

Throughout our walk with Christ, it’s important we take the time to open our hearts to Him and let Him point out to us the junk we’ve picked up that’s entangling us, building a wall up between us and Him. But we can’t stop there or we will walk in the sorrowful footsteps of this rich young man. We walk in freedom when we choose to obey Christ. He is showing us His love when he exposes our junk we’re holding onto and tells us to get rid of it.

The man walked away sorrowful at the thought of trying to let go of his possessions for Christ. He knew he couldn’t do it himself. But he forgot one very important truth Jesus later talks to His disciples about in verse 27:

“With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.” Mark 10:27 (ESV)

We can’t save ourselves from ourselves. We can’t muster up the will power to immediately drop our junk and never look back. But, with God we can. With God, all things are possible. With God, we can walk in freedom.

Are you clinging on to dog poop in comparison to the life Jesus has for you?

From one of His children to another,

Christi