Lego Sacrifice

I think most people know what Legos are. They've been around forever so even if you don't have children or don't have children that play with Legos, maybe you did when you were young or you have friends with kids or nieces/nephews that enjoy them. I have three boys so Legos are a staple at our house. There are so many. I like to keep them sorted with their coordinating instructions but inevitably they all end up mixed together in one giant box (it's not a battle I choose to fight). For this Type A mama, their chaos makes me a little crazy but I must admit they are a pretty cool toy. For the simple reason that you can just sit down at any age and just start building something. Anything you want. You can make it up as you go. If you don't' know what I'm talking about here's how it goes at our house: first, you build a wall, then a house, then it becomes a castle and bad guys are storming it with swords, then you break a piece off and fly away in your jet that gets shot down and turns into a car and you have a race that ends in a crash. This all happens in about 30 seconds. Also, at some point, my child will look at what I'm building and say "Hey where did you get that piece? I need it. Can I have it?"
At the start of this year, I asked God for a word and He gave me build, along with invest. They go together really. Anything you're building, you're really also investing in. If not time and money, for sure prayers and thoughts. As I've been praying about the things I should be building this year, God leaned over and said, "Hey! Are you using that piece? I need it. Can I have it?" It was a dream I was holding on to, an idea of something that I wanted to build myself and I hadn't let it go. Sometimes God asks us to make a sacrifice, not because He wants to take something away from us but because He has something better to give us. We all have something we're desperately clinging to. For me, it was ultimately fear. Fear that God isn't good, that if I really give Him my deepest desire, He'll leave me empty-handed. I was so afraid I would miss my calling, that I had made too many wrong decisions for God to ever use me and He would never do the things He told me He would. Maybe for you its a job, its financial freedom, its walking away from a group of friends that you know you shouldn't be spending so much time with, maybe its a spouse or at least a happy marriage, or maybe a baby-forget boy or girl, maybe it's your health or a broken relationship you want restored. I've begged God, pleaded with Him and thought if I kept it tucked away and prayed hard enough, He would give me what I wanted. Prayer is effective! Amen! So I'm not saying don't pray about it. Absolutely pray, without ceasing about all things. But what I am saying is ask God what He wants you to lay down at his feet. Is it fear, envy, pride, selfishness, doubt, anger? Maybe it's something good. There's nothing wrong with some of our dreams but when they get us stuck, it can be pretty hard to get moving again. Friend, that piece you're holding on to, is keeping you from the greatest adventure. Pray. Get in His word. Talk to a friend. Then next time God leans in and asks you for that one piece, give it to Him! You may end up building a house, or a castle, fighting with swords, flying a jet, driving a race car, or, God bless it, doing all of it. And even if you do nothing, you'll be doing it with your Good Father who is absolutely trustworthy and loves you deeply.

Hebrews 11:17-19  

¹⁷  It was by faith that Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice when God was testing him. Abraham, who had received God’s promises, was ready to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, ¹⁸ even though God had told him, “Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted.”^{[a] 19} Abraham reasoned that if Isaac died, God was able to bring him back to life again. And in a sense, Abraham did receive his son back from the dead.

For Abraham's full story read Genesis 22.