Scraping barnacles, losing spiritual fat, cleaning house

Jon Swanson writes:

I wish I’d seen barnacles sometime in my life. I don’t like using cliche metaphors unless I’ve seen what I’m talking about. And I’ve heard that barnacles cling to the bottoms of boats and slow them down. And I’ve heard that it’s important to scrape them off from time to time lest the boat gets bogged down.

I spent the day yesterday scraping barnacles out of my office and off my heart. But since I’ve never seen barnacles, I can’t use that image.

Parts of my office hadn’t been adjusted since I moved in 53 months ago. A drawer was full of empty router boxes from some network projects we’ve done. There were drafts of various sorts, old catalogs, and pictures from projects that are long over.

I also took a couple steps on major projects, steps where the absence of action was slowing the progress of my heart. I was feeling trapped until I brushed off the inertia with a few keystrokes.

As I was thinking about my experiential ignorance, I remembered another image, this time about running. I’m not a runner, but I’m walking and riding more. And realizing the way baggage limits progress. Sometimes it’s the baggage of wrong actions and wronged relationships. Other times it’s just distractions we picked up along the way. The writer of Hebrews says,

It means we’d better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever..

Spiritual fat. Parasitic sins.  That’s cleaning my office, clearing piles, ending collections.” via Scraping barnacles, losing spiritual fat, cleaning house..

I hope that Jon won’t mind that I added barnacles to his post… :-D