Off the Rails

“For if you cry for discernment, Lift your voice for understanding; If you seek her as silver And search for her as for hidden treasures; Then you will discern the fear of the Lord And discover the knowledge of God…He is a shield to those who walk in integrity, Guarding the paths of justice, And He preserves the way of His godly ones.-Proverbs 2:3-8

I have a love/hate relationship with my closet door. I love it because it keeps my cats away from my clothes and a place to hang my shirts. I hate it because the thing always comes off the rail! I get so frustrated. Whenever there is any pressure from shoes or shirts (It’s a tiny closet) it falls off the rail. I have mastered putting it back on and I can tell when it is about to happen, but it still gets irritating.

Our faith walk faces times like this. We can be gliding along just fine, but then some obstacle jumps in our way and we fall “off the rail”. Our connection with Jesus could be feeling great, but then we have a hard day at work and have a burst of anger at our spouse…we fall off the rail.
We can be singing one of our favorite songs or listening to a sermon in our car and someone cuts us off…we fall off the rail (see this: A Call to Reconcile: The Weight of the Finger)

There are so many ways to fall off the rail, but we need to get to the point of recognizing the things that set us off. We all know those triggers that set us off track and we need to be cognoscente of our attitudes before derailing. However, the only way to ever truly be able to avoid derailing is to focus on the only One who can get us back on course…Jesus.

One of the main reasons my closet door comes off the rail is due to too much stuff being stuffed behind the doors. Perhaps that is why we fail to stay on the railing well? We hold on to past pain or hurt, we fail to reconcile relationships, we can’t say “I’m sorry” without a look like you just ate a lemon, and the list could go on and on.

Maybe it’s time to clean out the closet so the doors stay intact? Maybe, God is asking you to remove some stuff so you can be put back on the rails again?

When we fall off the rails we need to step back and take a breath, analyze and assess the damage (if any), and figure out what caused the derailment. Move the obstacles out of the way. Adjust the screws on the wheels and put them back on the track and continue moving forward.

Don’t get too upset with yourself if you fall off again, but take the proper precautions to avoid it happening regularly. When we stay on the rails, our path stays straight and our focus remains on the eternal journey.