Middle of the Mire Thinking

As we walked along we knew were in trouble. The soil below our feet was softer than the rest that we had just walked over. It was also wet and our feet were going deeper with the running shoe being covered more and more in the Mire and Muck around it. Further steps into the area meant only more Mire and Muck. We were bogged down quickly.

The Mire and the Muck was all over the previously clean shoes – the only shoes we had with us at the time.

The place was Saskatchewan – just on the edge of Regina – while we were walking with our friend Joanne. I had forgotten about the “gumbo clay” that is unique to this area of the world. There is nothing like “gumbo clay” to slow you down.

A longtime ago….
When I was a boy our family was traveling over roads made out of this clay during a rain storm. As our car went along its wheels become covered with the clay and then a build up started. The wheels actually became bigger and then the wheel wells filled with the sticky Mire and Muck. After nearly three hours of trying to go further over the road we were stranded in the sea of Mire and Muck. What usually took less than a half hour to cross was now over four hours long. We were badly stuck and could go no further. The best we could do was to walk into a farm house that was up the road, wake the family, and stay the night.

The “gumbo clay” makes Mire and Muck that will even stop a giant machine when it falls into a pit of it in the middle of a field. The “gumbo clay” is dangerous.

Recently…
I have been pulled down and held back by another one of my hidden problems. Have you ever had this happen to you? You won’t know about it until I reveal it…so here goes.

I have been stopped by my Mire and Muck thinking patterns. My thought life is held back, stopped dead, and even forced me to abandon my travel plans through life because of it. The “gumbo clay” thoughts of my whole experience has crippled me at times. Then I can go no further.

The last posting by Bruce Lindsay on this Blog was brilliant. He struck a chord with my thoughts and I took a personal survey of my own life and thinking. As I was doing so my “gumbo clay” thoughts were close by…then the problem rain fell all around me – and the Mire and the Muck appeared. Everywhere I stepped my path was in Mire and Muck. Then I stalled and finally stopped dead. I could go no further.

Negative thoughts filled me up. Horrible “what ifs” stunned me and stopped me cold. The “worst case scenario” crept from the ugly thinking to a reality. The bitter rain fell and so did I.

There was a point that I simply rolled over and quit. I could go no further. Like my family travels long ago – we could go no further. We were done!

“Gumbo clay” thoughts are always there – in the dry state or good state of affairs it can be traveled on easily. Add a bit of problem rain and mix it with an all night storm of fear – and you will STOP DEAD!

Mire and Muck thinking will kill you…or maybe just paralyze you…whatever is your case at the time – you will go not further.
Back to the stranded family…
We spent the whole night sleeping on the floor of the farm house about 45 miles south of Regina. In the morning the kind lady gave us something to eat. Our clothes had dried some and we walked to the door…to find our mud caked shoes. What had been a shoe was actually a huge black ball with a hole in it where our feet had been. It was a great reminder of what we had been through.

The car was still on the country road about a quarter mile away from the farm.

The farmer had a huge tractor running and told us to get on. My dad and I climbed aboard. Within a half hour he had hooked a chain on the undercarriage of the car and the giant of the tractor was pulling our car through the Mire and Muck. All four wheels were frozen solid and would not turn. The car slid along behind the tugging giant tractor that would not be stopped. Our family boarded at the farm house and then the farmer pulled us all the way to a better gravel road.

We were free and arrived home safely later that day…but not before taking a lot of time at the side of the gravel road to dig out the Mire and Muck around the car’s wheels.

So much like me…
This week as the “gumbo clay” of my mind produced the Mire and Muck of my thinking – I stopped. Then a miracle began to happen – someone stepped in to help me.

Who is that someone? His name is Mr. God. He is B-I-G and he has a “powerful tractor” that pulled me out of my Mire and Muck thinking. He did it by reminding me of all the stuff that he has brought us through so far…and that he has always been there for us. And then he helped me to remember that he will always be there to help – “Just call me… I will help you.” Were his words this week.

Today…
Today I am cleaning off the Mire and Muck from my traveling boots. They are almost clean. But just dirty enough to remind me of where I had been – but clean enough to get on with the job to be done.

Hey – I AM FREE of Mire and Muck today. Does it ever feel better!

~ Pastor Murray Lincoln ~