Catch the Little Foxes

What clutter is is your life? stealing away precious time?  Causing havoc because of disorganiziation?

What little foxes come in and steal your peace and joy?  worry? fear? discontent?

Yesterday's homemaking tip was to sort through your food storage containers.  It does not take much brain but it does take encouragement as a catalyst sometimes because chores like that never seem to get done until they MUST be dealt with.

But isn't life itself like that?  Are not our hearts like that?  We have little stressors in our lives that we allow to eat away at our peace bite by bite and we do nothing about it.  We have small issues in our hearts that put just a little fog on an otherwise sunny demeanor.

I am not speaking of the things that are out of our control, like the rain preventing a planned picnic or the missing hot dogs that you bought yesterday for today's lunch and now they are gone.  With inspection you discover that your teen age son had a hot dog binge at midnight.  Well, maybe THAT one could have been in your control with better  "tell-me-when-you-plan-on-eating-the-hot-dogs" parental discipline.  Most everything is really out of our control.  However, most of what we allow into our schedules and hearts is within our realm of supervision and submission.

It is the little things that grow into big things that we are exhorted to guard and get rid of.

"Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom." -Song of Solomon 2:15

And it is the little things that trip us up is it not? 

You are too tired to host the bible study at your house, but you are the one who invited everyone.

Your friend just bought the pair of pumps that you have been wanting and could not afford.

Your niece just got a scolarship to Yale while you are struggling to get your teen to remember multiplication.

Your kids are driving you to Google "trips to Mars" but you are the one who wanted so many- kids that is.  (Or so my husband has reminded me.)

These are some temporary causes of irritation- if we let it.  The longer I live the more I am realizing that PERSPECTIVE is everything.  EVERYTHING.  Perspective can take my mind and heart to a place of anger or depression before I know how it got there.   But perspective can also be the weapon that kills those little foxes eating all of my good grapes.  Perspective can be the salt that preserves my fruit.

I only have space to address few issues that spoil your fruit.  I have brought up scheduling and the HEART which is a huge area all unto itself.  But simply, as for scheduling- manage it.  Do what you have to do, plan for what you want to do (some of the time), and allow space to fill in your schedule when life's "didn't expect that" times arrive.

As for your heart.  Well, we have been given the entire bible to instruct us on what to do about it.  Guard your heart and keep your perspective His.  That is enough water and sunshine to keep the fruit growing.  And have no mercy on the little foxes.  They grow up and when they do they eat more.  And they meet other foxes and have baby foxes and then you are dealing with a whole lot of them.

What little foxes will you be hunting down today?

Linking today with other hunters from



by John Rae 1918