Planks for the Muddy Messes

It was a trip back home with Steve and our good friends, Pam and Barry. I was truly in My Happy Place as I showed off my hometown of Climax, MN.

Once we saw “the town” and they graciously listened to me speak excitedly, passionately, at 7,148 words per minute about the people, events and wonderful memories, it was time to show them “our land.”

We drove onto the narrow dirt road between the fields a mile out of town, noticing that it was still quite muddy from last night’s rain. And then it got muddier. And even muddier.
And then.
We got stuck.
In a mud rut.

I don’t know if Steve had ever tried to drive out of a mud rut. (He grew up in Minneapolis.) Common sense told him to step on the gas, I guess.

Farm friends, you know what happened next. When the pedal hit the floor, we just splattered mud everywhere and sank lower into the rut.

My small town/farm girl voice was screaming in my head, You can’t get out of this by gunning it, City Boy! Good gravy! Out loud, in a very modulated tone, I said, We need to get something under the tires to give us some traction.

{Just a quick side note. Isn’t it just amazingly hard to keep your mouth shut and show restraint with your words when you know you’re right but you’re trying not to disrespect the other person and there are guests with a back row seat to your conversation who have gone strangely silent? Ooftah.}

Well, we eventually found our way out of the muddy rut. My City Boy made my Farm Girl heart proud.
Isn’t this scenario just like life?

We get stuck in a muddy rut – words hurt us, disappointments come, life doesn’t get fixed – and we spin our wheels. Splattering mud. Pushing on the gas harder thinking that eventually it might just work. And we just get more stuck.

I’m learning to pull out the planks that can help when life gets muddy.
Planks with names.
Grace. Forgiveness. Mercy. Prayer.

I mean, really.
Spinning the wheels, fretting, talking, talking, talking about being stuck…those things don’t get us to where we need to be which is out of the mud rut. We need traction planks.

What traction planks do you need today?
They are yours for the asking.

He reached down from on high and took hold of me;
he drew me out of deep waters…
He brought me out into a spacious place;
he rescued me because he delighted in me.
(Psalm 18)

Would you like a little inspiration from me every day?

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Comments

  1. Love this, Gaye. As a small town country girl myself I could related to the event and your life lessons!

You are Extraordinarily Significant!