Keep Your Dirt Swept

Sunday before last at church, I heard about a common practice here in this country that I had heard about in other parts of the continent as well, but it was explained in a different way. The Truth of it came alive for me later that week. 

Across this country, there are lots of places that are not paved, even here in the capital. None the less, the people will sweep the dirt to keep it looking nice, but the reasons go much deeper. In other places, I had heard it explained that they swept to make it smooth, so that a snake's trail could be easily seen when it goes into a house. However, here, they say it is to keep grass from growing close to the house, so that there is nowhere for the snake to hide to get near the house. 

I don't know about you, but I certainly like the idea of it not getting in the house in first place rather than just knowing if it has gotten there. Maybe that is why the Bible admonishes us to not even give the enemy an opportunity. Ephesians 4:26-27 says, "In your anger, do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold." 

Over the next few days, I saw how it played out in real life. From all the moving, I had let little things build up in my heart against my family members. With Rich being gone for over a week, I had allowed the bickering between my daughters to become bickering within me. Instead of keeping my dirt swept on a daily, even moment by moment basis, I had allowed seeds of discontent to grow.  I was miserable and causing everyone else to be so as well. 

A couple of days into it, I had to ask for prayer for my health. In the midst of praying, the prayers for my well being went so much deeper than stomach issues. In seeking out the cause for my stomach issues, I discovered the root cause of my discontent. I was not going to have anymore of it. I told the enemy to get out, not unlike the scene in "War Room." I decided to focus on The Lord and the Word. 

The way we do battle is with praising the Father, not giving too much attention to the enemy. We know his schemes to recognize them, but we are to set our hearts and minds on things above. Because she was too focused on the enemy, Mariama recently had let things that she needed to know to be more security conscious turn to anxiety, but I admonished her to change her focus. Philippians 4:8 tells us, "Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things." 

This week my personal Bible study has been on forgiveness. It has shined a light on places in my life that I had let unforgiveness, towards myself as well as others, take root, in spite of saying that I had forgiven.  I have pulled up weeds of discontent. I encourage you to examine your life for the areas that seeds of unforgiveness or discontent or other seeds have begun to take root. 

Keep your dirt swept, not just to see when the enemy enters, but do not even give him a chance to get near the house.