Tufting

On a recent walking holiday I found myself walking into a very boggy area, so much so that I had to start walking on the small tufts of grass that grow out of the bog and provide a small area of solid ground about the size of your foot. I called this tufting.

The problem with tufting is that you begin to sink very quickly while standing on a tuft, and there`s only room for one foot, so you need to keep moving on, one foot at a time to the next tuft of grass. On several occasions the tuft wasn`t enough to hold my weight, and I`d end up either ankle deep, or waist deep in a very wet, cold and smelly bog. It came as a huge relief to finally reach solid ground and walk on the stone path that I should have been on in the first place. I was trying to take a short cut, but it took me twice as long, and I ended up cold, wet and very smelly.

Our lives can be like this. We can jump from one thing to another to find that solid ground, that feeling of security that we all search for. For me it was twenty years of trying to find this security, but I was taking short cuts to try and find it. I found myself tufting between hobbies, clothes, music, food, travel and work. Not finding what I was looking for in one thing, I would quickly move on to the next. The problem was, I never knew what I was looking for or where I was going.

In Psalm 40:2 David wrote: `He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure` (Psalm 40:2). There may come a time in our lives, as it did for me, when God puts a stop to the tufting. I had to be still, very still, to hear His voice, and when I did, I knew I`d found what I`d been looking for in all the worldly things. He will lift us out of the bog of the inner longing and despair. We can then begin to stop tufting and stand on solid ground, which is our Lord Jesus Christ, for He is the Rock, our Rock.

If you feel like you`re tufting at the moment, jumping from one thing to another, and searching for the Rock, the solid ground that is in Jesus, keep searching for it, but you may need to stop tufting to find what you`re looking for. `You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart` (Jeremiah 29:23).

Prayer: Father,Would You help me to be still. Would You help me to plant my feet firmly on the Rock that is Jesus. Help me lay down the things of this world that I step on to. Help me to stop tufting and step on to the firm foundation found in You and Your Son, Jesus, and please make my steps secure. Amen.