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How to Deal with
Dirt on Your Back
Shake it off and take a step upward!
By Jennifer Paden
“count it all joy when you fall into various trials”
One day a farmer´s
donkey fell down into a well. The animal cried piteously for hours as the
farmer tried to figure out what to do.
Finally, he decided
the animal was old and the well needed to be covered up anyway, it just wasn´t
worth it to retrieve the donkey.
He invited all his
neighbors to come over and help him. They all grabbed a shovel and began to
shovel dirt into the well.
At first, the
donkey realized what was happening and cried horribly. Then, to everyone’s
amazement, he quieted down.
A few shovel loads
later, the farmer finally looked down the well and was astonished at what he
saw.
With every shovel
of dirt that hit his back, the donkey was doing something amazing. He would
shake it off and take a step up.
As the farmer´s
neighbors continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off
and take a step up.
Pretty soon,
everyone was amazed as the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and
trotted off.
The Moral of the
Story: Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt. The trick to
getting out of the well is to shake it off and take a step up.
Each of our
troubles is a stepping stone. What happens to you isn’t nearly as important as
how you react to it.
We can get out of
the deepest wells just by not stopping, never giving up! Shake it off and take
a step upward!
I recently came
across this fable and thought of several Biblical principles that can be
applied.
The poor donkey
found himself in a seemingly impossible situation. He cried for help and
the one that came was the farmer.
The donkey’s owner
also judged the predicament as impossible and the best solution he saw was to
put the donkey out of its misery.
Notice he recruited
his neighbors to help him as he worked to help the donkey the best way he knew
how – throwing dirt one shovelful at a time.
There are certainly
times in life when we have dirt thrown on us. We are tempted, tried,
persecuted, and brought down low.
This ‘dirt’ can
come from a variety of sources – those we work with, ones we consider friends,
family members, situations in life, and sometimes even ourselves.
When our focus is
on the dirt, we will get buried. The donkey initially began crying even
more fervently when he realized what was being done.
However, he quickly
changed his tone when he discovered that what was intended to bury him could
save him.
The same can applied to our lives. “My brethren, count
it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your
faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may
be perfect and complete, lacking nothing” (James 1:2-4).
The ‘dirt’ that is
thrown on us can work to make us complete in Christ by producing perseverance
which leads to perfection, completion, a lack of nothing.
The effect the dirt has depends on our reaction to it. One
line in the moral of the story said, “What happens to you isn’t nearly as
important as how you react to it.”
How true this is!
What do you do with the dirt that is thrown on your back? Cry hopelessly,
drown yourself in pity, give up? or Do you . .
Look upward. Psalm 61:2 says, “From the end of
the earth I will cry to You, when my heart is overwhelmed; Lead me to the rock
that is higher than I.”
There is nothing
that happens to us in this life that we cannot take before our Creator.
“The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears, and delivers them
out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart,
and saves such as have a contrite spirit. Many are the afflictions of the
righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all” (Psalm 34:17-19).
The terminology in
the original Hebrew of one who has a “broken heart” and “contrite
spirit” carries with the thought of being “crushed” or “broken
down.”
Through these
times, the Lord hears and delivers from all troubles.
Shake the dirt off your back. The Hebrew writer wrote
about "laying aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares
us . . ." (Hebrews 12:1).
This carries with
it the thought of not allowing anything to weigh us down spiritually.
The mindset to
shake off any “dirt” that life throws at us and not allowing it to weigh us
down.
Think of the donkey,
if he hadn’t taken the actions he did, it would not have taken long for the
amount of dirt to be so overwhelming that his hope of survival would have been
lost.
While our initial
reaction to “dirt” might be to cry, we must quickly begin to shake it off,
giving us the opportunity to rise up.
Put one foot in front of the other. The
conclusion of the verse mentioned above (Hebrews 12:1) says, “ . . . and
let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.”
The Christian life
is not a stagnant one. It requires hard work, persistence, and action!
Our adversary is
certainly always on the move (1 Peter 5:8), thus we must be
people of action in order to defeat him.
The donkey would
have lost his life if he had chosen to stand there and continue to cry out
helplessly.
Instead, he chose
to start moving his feet; this movement saved his life. Our movement through
trials can make or break us as well.
Christ said in Luke 12:34, “Strive to enter through
the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be
able.”
The word “strive”
in Greek literally means to “agonize.”
Thayer’s Greek
Lexicon defines the word as “to contend with adversaries, fight, struggle
with difficulties and dangers antagonistic to the gospel.”
It is putting one
foot in front of the other no matter what “dirt” is thrown on our back.
Use the “dirt”
as an opportunity to grow and become stronger. James 1:2-4 (earlier mentioned verses)
elaborates on this point.
James begins these verses with “count it all joy when you
fall into various trials.”
What point is James
trying to make?
Be thankful for the
“dirt” because it can work to build a better you.
When we trust the
words of Romans 8:28, we will look for ways to
learn and grow through every circumstance of life.
The donkey used the
dirt thrown on his back to save his life. Even though the dirt was intended to
bury him, he used it to work for good.
Likewise, we can
use what is thrown on our backs to make us stronger children of God.
Another
consideration from the fable is the farmer. He should have been the one that
the donkey could rely on for safety and protection.
In his
hopelessness, however, he was the one throwing the dirt and employing his
neighbors to do the same.
We can have full
confidence in the Lord that He will not parallel these actions. He is always
with the righteous and ready to help in our time of need.
Psalm 34:15 reads, “The
eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry.”
As Christian women,
our responsibility is to conduct ourselves in righteousness knowing that God
will help us when the ‘dirt’ is being heaped upon our backs.
To conclude, there
are other lessons that could be gleaned from this fable – never give up, think
positive, keep calm, etc. All of these things also helped the donkey get
out of the well.
The question to ask
yourself is, “What do I do when life shovels dirt on my back?”
Hopefully, this
simple fable can be brought to our minds and help us deal with “dirt” in
a way that makes us stronger women of God.
Jennifer Paden
Jennifer
and her husband worship with the Royse City church of Christ where her husband
has been preaching for nine years. They have three children – Mya (almost
5), Seth (3 1/2), and Gwen (1). Jennifer graduated
from Freed-Hardeman University with a degree in Education and taught
for nine years. After their first daughter was born, she has been blessed
to be able to stay at home with my children. She has been able to participate
in mission work, spending eight weeks in Russia during college and
traveling to Jamaica twice for two-week mission trips. She
enjoys teaching Bible class, Ladies’ class, and has been privileged to speak at
Ladies’ Days.
Welcome! We are so
glad you stopped by. Come Fill Your Cup is a group of Christian ladies
dedicated to equipping women for study and service. Our goal is to reach you in
the midst of your busy day and give you encouragement, education, and
fellowship as you strive to live the life God has laid before you.
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