Jesus replied, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.” Luke 18:27
The key went flying through the air, I dusted my hands off, and I said, “This has happened for the last time.” My youngest was outside staring at me with a bewildered expression on his face. It was a cross between shock and amusement.
I did what any logical mother would do, I told him he’d have to help me look for that key if I couldn’t find it. Since I decided to toss it where that broken down lawn mower had managed to get a row mowed, I calmly went over and picked it back up. Without my hubby being aware of my revelation, I figured it would be too hard to explain why we no longer had a key to the lawn mower. Plus, I had to set a good example for my wide-eyed son. Well, maybe I had blown that already, but I was teaching him how to get himself back under control quickly!
I really wasn’t all that upset at the lawn mower because by now we’re used to it. I haven’t mowed the lawn this year without it breaking down due to belt issues. We’ve actually gotten to the point where we could find humor in the old thing and my hubby became a record setting, belt-changing machine! It had crossed the line though for the last time when it almost kept me from doing something nice for my hubby…again! No sir, it wasn’t going to stop me from moving forward. It was just a minor stumbling block. We had a perfectly good push mower that actually helped us move ahead rather than hold us back.
I let the hubby know that I had a surprise for him when he called before leaving work. I told him I broke the lawn mower, which he chuckled and said, “What’s new?” He thinks he’s so clever. Lucky for him the real surprise was that the lawn was mowed, huh?
When he got home and I let him know that although we’ve grown in character from that lawn mower, I felt it was time to let it go. I really wasn’t sure if he’d give the ok on this idea of mine. To my surprise, he never even blinked before he came into complete agreement with me. I got the impression he was just a little bit relieved when he knew he wouldn’t have to carry that burden any more. He tried all he knew how to do, but he was bandaging the problem because he couldn’t get to the root of it. We should’ve turned it over to the company that sold us it when the belt broke the first time it was used.
How many times have we spent way longer trying to “help” someone that only left us drained and the person having the same issues over and over than we should have? How many times has God been waiting for us to get out of the way so that He could get to work? We aren’t giving up on that lawn mower, but we finally had our eyes opened to see that it was time to hand it over to someone who has more ability than we do in that area.
Let me make it clear that we never, ever, ever give up on someone…period. Please listen to this though: there does come a time when we need to hand those keys over to God in order for that person to get the help only He can give. Do you know that just might free us up to move forward too? We can move from being the fixer (responsible for something we can’t quite handle) to the supporter (where we pray and encourage).
Is there an area where you need to be moving from the fixer to the supporter? I challenge you to think about that today because what is impossible with man is possible with God. Do you need to get out of His way so that the best Fixer out there can do what only He can do?
