F R E E T H E F R O G S
It was summer, it was the weekend and it was golden hour so naturally my friends and I decided a photoshoot was necessary.
We quickly got distracted by a bunch of cute little frogs hopping along on the ground.
Without thinking I scooped one up and admired all it’s vibrant speckles of color glistening on it’s skin. It felt like I was holding a tiny, living, gem.
My co-worker turned around “what are you doing?! You know you’re killing it right?” He said
accusingly.
My eyes widened as I quickly placed the frog back on the grass. I noticed that his hops were significantly less powerful and he seemed to be dragging himself along. I felt awful.
The more ya know!
I later learned that frogs absorb everything through their skin making them extremely sensitive to the oils and salts on our hands. Not only was I hurting him but he could’ve been harming me. I shuddered as I read the various parasites that frogs can pass on to humans.
Yikes, I had no idea holding a little frog could potentially cause so much damage.
I’m going to ask you a question and this may sound a little weird but hang in there. Who/what are the frogs in your life?
Frogs are anything that we want to hold onto but in reality are harming us.
Sometimes we hang on to things because we think they’re cute but they’re actually poisoning us (and all the newly singles said amen! lol)
It doesn’t only have to be objectively ‘bad things’ it can be good things yet when held outside of God’s will become toxic. Examples of this could be: a relationship, a job, a house, money, etc
Not only do the things we hang onto harm us but we are hurting them as well. If we have someone in our life that isn’t meant to be there we are holding them back from their calling and destiny because they were never designed to be held by us.
God spoke to me through these little frogs and reminded me that I can’t hold everything I want to. If I insist on hanging onto something outside God’s will not only will I kill it but it will infect me.
“A time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away”
(Ecclesiastes 3:6)
There will be times God will ask us to ‘give up’ something really precious to us. Something that we love and adore and think it would be impossible to let go of.
God asked Abraham, the father of our faith to do the same thing he often calls us to do - surrender what He loved most.
“Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and offer him as a burnt offering on the mountains of which I shall tell you.” (Gen. 22:2)
God asked a lot from Abraham, He asked him to give up his only son that he loved and had waited for patiently years after it had been promised to him.
But when we think about what God let go for us, His one and only beloved son who was sacrificed for our sins and paid the price for our transgressions, we can hold everything we have in our life with an open palm and willingly say “God I surrender, all I have is yours.”
L E T T I N G G O
Laying down your Isaac on the altar means to submit that which is of utmost value to you. Are we willing to let go of things and people when he asks us to no matter how unfair or painful it may seem?
God will never ask us to let go of something good without plans to replace it with His best.
When we hold onto things outside of God’s will, we cannot walk in freedom. We are tied to whatever is in our hands. Whether it be a person, a job, a degree, a country etc
So if God asks us to leave it all behind and follow where He wants to lead us we will not obey Him.
God wants us to live out our purpose and calling here on earth and receive the best that He has for us but we will never get there if we are chained to idols we’ve set up in our hearts.
G O F E T C H
Have you ever played fetch with a dog who doesn’t understand the meaning of the word ‘fetch?’ His definition of fetch is actually ‘you throw the ball, and I’ll keep it forever and never return it.’
Not only is this frustrating for us dog owners as we look like idiots wrestling our dog to try to snatch back the gnarled tennis ball but it sucks for the dog too.
Inside their little minds they are smugly thinking ‘haha, I outsmarted them! I won! I have the ball.’ but in reality they are missing out on the whole fun of the game.
Yet, we do the exact same thing in our relationship with God! We think we know better and hang onto our treasure without realizing that we’re giving our heart away to things and people that are not meant to be held by us.
God often plays fetch with us. He gives us something for a season but then asks us to let it go and trust Him to return it.
When we become possessive over the blessings he’s given us it robs us of the joy that comes with being a part of the ‘game.’
Don’t make God wrestle you to the ground to retrieve what He’s given you when He asks for it back! Be willing to surrender all you have and trust that He knows best.
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