My wife and I buy our olive oil in cans. Its less expensive that way. The only problem is you have to fill up your daily use bottles every now and then. So yesterday as my wife was pulling out the plastic spout to fill the bottles the little spout handle broke. My attempts to pull the spout out only made matters worse. Rather than extending the spout out, I ended up breaking it off and pushing it into the can.
Now I had to pour the oil out of the large mouth into the bottles. Thankfully I had a large funnel. So as I was pouring every couple of seconds my eyes seemed to return to the plastic spout floating inside the can. It was taunting me. All I could think about was retrieving that spout.
Then it happened. Because I was distracted by that rebellious spout, I was not paying attention to the level of the oil in the bottle and it began to run over. To make matters worse the funnel was full at that very moment. So even though I stopped pouring, oil continued to spill out of the bottle. What a mess!
Which is an important life lesson. Don't pay too much attention to the difficulties that can distract you from your true mission. Unfortunate things happen. But if you let your difficulties distract you, your ability to complete your true mission is comprimised.
Spiritually speaking the same is true. The devil will throw anything he can at you, good or bad, to keep you from focusing on the Savior and His plan for your life. Hebrews 12:1 tells us "Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us". Only with a focused gaze on what Christ has set before us will we accomplish what He has for us to do.
