It’s like a Ferris wheel, really.
The line to ride never ends:  Dental visits, soccer schedules, what my sister-in-law thought of the unfinished trim in the dining room, mama failure.  (& all this before I got out of bed this morning.)
Unfriendly passengers stepping one at a time into my brain, circling around, stepping off to be replaced by another.  Round & round, round & round. 
& there is always another waiting in that (ahem) damned line.

On Sunday, Hailley spoke about how we have to need to absolutely must apply Truth to how we are living if we want to get anywhere, dip into any of the riches of a life with Jesus.  How do you know where you need more application, she asked us?  The negative places will tell you.  Where you feel disheveled or anxious or afraid, jealous & nasty & broken down, those are where you need more of God, more application. 

But, really: why?  Between the dishes & the dog & all your job requires, who has time to think about spiritual growth?  Well.  If you had a treasure trove in your basement, you’d want to crack the door, no matter how neglected the steps down looked.  It’s the same for a Life with Jesus. 

So let’s get after it.
When the dark comes for you, this morning, as you notice the woman by the lettuce with the cute skirt, in the middle of the night after the cat wakes you up, try to separate yourself from what the dark says about you, to you. Look at the phrasing trying to step onto your Ferris wheel brain. 
Where you hear, My WORD, you have failed,
instead of swallowing it whole, hold it up to the Light & ask God what He wants to say to It. Let Him apply His Truth to It. & keep doing that, keep inspecting those riders, with every rogue thought, every impulse that feels like, Well, jealous is just who I am, Hold It Up.

& bit by charcoaly bit, Jesus will reclaim the shadowy places in our hearts until He has more & more of us.  & more & more of us tucked in with Him means more & more freedom for us.

That, my friends, is a very nice Ride.