Sandbox Rock

A little boy was spending his Saturday morning playing in his sandbox.
He had with him his box of cars and trucks, his plastic pail, and a
shiny, red plastic shovel. In the process of creating roads and tunnels
in the soft sand, he discovered a large rock in the middle of the
sandbox. The lad dug around the rock, managing to dislodge it from the
dirt. With no little bit of struggle, he pushed and nudged the rock
across the sandbox by using his feet. (He was a very small boy and the
rock was very large.)

When the boy got the rock to the edge of the sandbox, however, he found
that he couldn't roll it up and over the little wall. Determined, the
little boy shoved and pushed but every time he thought he had
made some progress, the rock tipped and then fell back into the sandbox.
The little boy grunted, struggled, pushed, shoved - but his only reward
was to have the rock roll back, smashing his chubby fingers. Finally he
burst into tears of frustration.

All this time the boy's father watched from his living room window as
the drama unfolded. At the moment the tears fell, a large shadow fell
across the boy and the sandbox. It was the boy's father. Gently but
firmly he said, "Son, why didn't you use all the strength that you had
available?"

Defeated, the boy sobbed back, "But I did, Daddy, I did! I used all the
strength that I had!"

"No, son," corrected the father kindly. "You didn't use all the strength
you had. You didn't ask me."

With that the father reached down, picked up the rock, and removed it
from the sandbox.

Do you have "rocks" in your life that need to be removed? Are you
discovering that you don't have what it takes to lift them? There is One
who is always available to us and willing to give us the strength we
need. When the apostle Paul faced times of a broken spirit and sapped
strength, he proclaimed to the Corinthian church, "My grace is enough
for you. When you are weak, then my power is made perfect in you" (2
Corinthians 12:9b NCV). When we are broken in spirit and our strength is
spent, we can turn to our Saviour Jesus.

Author Unknown


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