NARROW PLACES
Today's reading: Matthew 5-7

"You can enter God's Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose the easy way. But the gateway for life is small and the road is narrow, and only a few ever find it." Matthew 7:13-14 NLT

We have two vehicles here on the farm.

One is my run-around car. The blue dart. The better in gas mileage. The errand-running, school-pick-up, drive back and forth to work transportation.

I can whip it in any parking space. I can squeeze it in tight places. I can turn around on a dime when I drive the blue car. I can park up close to the doors at any store.

And we have the farm truck.

It's big.

It's wide.

It's hard for me to park.

If I drive it to Wal-Mart, you'll find me with the other over-sized vehicles on the back lot. It won't fit in every parking space. It requires a forty-acre field for me to turn it around. It doesn't 'whip' into places. It doesn't allow me to park up front, run in really quickly and back out in a hurry.

When I read today's verses, I can relate to what Jesus is saying.

I can't take an over-sized life into heaven. There are things I need to leave behind to follow Him. There is baggage I must cull in order to keep up with His pace and go where He needs me to go.

It's not the easy life and when I remind myself of that, I can make the right choices, I can push aside selfish desires, I can release harmful feelings that have no place on the highway to holiness.

I can choose to live life in the narrow lane that leads to heaven or be stuck where only the big, gray farm trucks will fit.