Wrestling With A Garden Hose

One of the lessons in the Battlefield of the Mind was to learn to become the kind of person who plans things but who doesn’t fall apart if that plan does not work out.

My plan was to water my plants and flowers in my yard and began with a leak in the hose. The garden wand that I usually use had been switched out for a different sprayer that I didn’t like.

So I turned off the water and switched sprayers. The hose connection still leaked. Thoughts of, “why did he mess with my hoses,” came to mind and I again shut off the water to re-adjust the connection.

Mind you that the water valve is on one side of the deck and the hose on the other so I was getting a little bit of walking in with each attempt to fix the leak.

I could feel the frustration rising within me and then remembered that I don’t have to give in to this mindset because I am a new creation in Christ. Wrestling with a garden hose is not worth getting upset about.

“Anytime we don’t get what we want our feelings rise up and try to get us into self pity and a negative attitude. Recognize immediately that you have a choice to make.”

“You can be irritable because things didn’t work out the way you wanted them to or you can adjust yourself to the situation and go ahead and enjoy the outcome.”

Once I chose to be at peace I was able to use a different hose and enjoyed the extra time in my yard watering my flowers. Getting wet from the leak in the hose made me laugh and actually felt good in the warm afternoon sun.

“Even a person who is really positive won’t have everything work out the way they would like all the time. But the positive person can go ahead and decide to enjoy themselves no matter what happens. The negative person never enjoys anything.”

My Prayer

Father, thank you for the opportunity to put Your truth into practice. I’ve allowed little things like a garden hose to affect my attitude in the past and I thank you that I can choose to see those irritations in a different light. I want to change Lord and I thank you for walking me through the process. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Where does my help come from?

2 Corinthians 5:17

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!