The Obstacles In Our Path

Let me tell you a little something about obstacles. They slow you down. They get in the way of accomplishing what needs to be done. They flood over you some days until you can't catch your breath.  We may not have put them there, but perhaps we didn't pay attention to the sign warning us about them. We failed to follow the DETOUR designed to assist us. We may absolutely hate those obstacles, but we've become oblivious to the way they impede our progress. Sure, they slow us down, but eventually the pace seems acceptable. 

I have done a good bit of counseling in my years in ministry and have observed that marriages can get bogged down and eventually dissolve due to the obstacles that have become commonplace and are not addressed. So many times the DETOUR sign is ignored and they just keep moving toward the danger. Other times there is no detour, but there are so many pot holes that marriage can become like Indiana roads in the spring. We learn to maneuver around them, hoping someone fills them before we wreck a tire. Or worse. And then, one very dark night, we miss seeing it in time and ....

Whether you are responsible for the obstacle(s) to your success because of actions, attitudes, behaviors, habits, or an unwillingness to see things from a different perspective OR you are not responsible for them and circumstances beyond your control invited these obstacles onto your path, you have to decide if you are going to use them to grow or let them slow your development. If you choose the latter, you won't arrive at the destination you hoped for. In this manner, you have a responsibility for these obstacles even if you have nothing to do with their appearance. You can choose to continually allow them to trip you up or you can use them as stepping stones to get you to the other side.

Ignoring the obstacles in your relationships that keep it from honoring God will not end well. Though it will not likely be easy to address them, if you don't expand your mind to see from a different perspective, and begin to shift the obstacles out of your way, they will result in sinful attitudes and behaviors. Those behaviors will keep you from winning the race set out for you by the One that made you for that particular race. The man who wrote to the Hebrew Christ followers in the first century says it something like this...

Let us get rid of obstacles that get in our way 

and the sin that holds on to us so tightly, 

and let us run with determination

 the race that lies before us.

Hebrews 12:1

Maybe it isn't a marriage relationship that is filled with obstacles. Perhaps it is something else that is holding on so tightly to you that you have lost your determination and you are losing the race. Whatever it is, find the help that you need to get to the finish line. Be the winner you were made to be. Whether that is as an employer or employee; a husband or a wife; a student or a teacher; a mom or a dad - address the obstacles, do the next right thing, let go of sinful attitudes and actions and be determined to give it all you've got to receive the trophy.