How Do You Eat An Elephant?

About 4 out of 7 days a week, my house is a train wreck. I have a lady that comes to clean every Friday and by Monday, it looks like a garbage truck dumped its load in our living quarters. All this colossal mess is going on in my house, but from the outside you would never know it. Most of the time, I’m ashamed of my house and I don’t like people coming over and seeing this mess. I get frustrated because no matter how much I try to tell my kids and my husband to pick up after themselves, they don’t, so it’s like a losing battle. Sometimes it feels like I’m a prisoner to this mess, with no way out.

This makes me think of our spiritual lives. Often times, there are people who seem like they have it all together on the outside. A tidy, pleasant life. But on the inside, there’s a perpetual struggle against the junk. On the inside, it’s a mess and there’s junk scattered everywhere. For a few days a week, there may be peace and order, but the rest of the week it’s a battle against the crushing tide of inner work that needs to be done. They are ashamed of anyone seeing their mess and no matter how hard they try, no matter what room they run to, that mess is still there. They feel like they are fighting a losing battle. They feel like a prisoner to their mess.

Sometimes I just stand in my kitchen, looking around at the bomb explosion of dishes and old food and crumbs, and empty boxes that no one bothered to throw away or juice no one put back into the fridge and I think to myself, “How am I gonna clean all this up? Where do I even start?” Sometimes I just want to walk out and leave it there, but I know if I don’t clean it up, it isn't gonna go away. Truth be told, there was a point in my life where I felt the same way about the spiritual mess inside of me. God began to show me my mess and my initial reaction was, “How am I gonna clean all this up? Where do I even start?” I was tempted to ignore Him and just leave it there because the things that needed to be fixed in me seemed too hard to deal with. But I knew if I didn’t clean it up, it wasn’t ever going to go away. I knew if I didn’t clean it up, I would remain a prisoner to my mess.

When God brought the Israelites into the Promised Land, He told them that He wasn’t going to drive out their enemies from the land all at once, otherwise they would be overwhelmed with all that land to care for and the gardens would become overgrown and the herds would scatter because there wouldn’t be enough people to take care of them. They had just arrived in the Promised Land after wandering in the desert for 40 years, they weren’t familiar with the area yet, they weren’t established there yet, they didn’t have enough people to take care of all of it yet. So God said, “Little by little, I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land” (Exodus 23:30). Little by little, the Israelites conquered their enemies. Little by little, they gained ground, they became familiar with the land, and they increased in number. They trusted God, they found a starting point, and they moved forward little by little.

When God began to do His work in me, He didn’t change me all at once. He did it little by little. Just like when I clean my train-wreck-of-a-kitchen, I start with one dish. Then I move onto the next one, and the next one, until the whole sink full of dishes is done. The Christian life is about trust in God and persisting in that trust, it is about the willingness to start somewhere and move forward in faith and perseverance. Being a Christian is hard, and don’t let anyone tell you any different. The Holy Spirit does the work in us, but we have to be willing and persistent about yielding to Him. Often times we will struggle, but we have to be willing to remain steadfast, to not throw up our hands and give up and remain a prisoner to our mess.

When faced with a colossal task, my Mammaw used to say, “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.” Be willing to trust God, be willing start somewhere, and God will meet you there to supply you with all the forks you will ever need.

“So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—Who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like Him as we are changed into His glorious image. Therefore, since God in His mercy has given us this new way, we never give up.” (2 Cor 3:18-4:1)

“Therefore, we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, yet our inner self is being renewed day by day.” (2 Cor 4:16)

“They go from strength to strength, until each appears before God in Zion. O Lord God of Hosts, hear my prayer; give ear, O God of Jacob.” (Psalm 84:7,8)