Thought for The Day - Barnacles!

I remember hearing this word in a cartoon years ago; it was a safe 'swear word,' children could hear and possibly recite without getting their face slapped. But I remember looking it up in the dictionary after hearing it talked about in a sermon. Basically, it's 'stuff' that grows on the bottom of a ship and builds up over the years. An equivalent for us "land-lovers" is rust or caked on water deposits we find on pipes and other exposed materials. Wear clothes too many times and you get an idea how unpleasant this can be. Don't ask how I know...

These 'things' can slow or impede a ship's movement in water. They build up and grow and attract enough other materials, that the smooth bottom of a ship gets "caked up" with this stuff. And a ship needs a smooth bottom to sail or move about in the water.

If you haven't figured out where I'm going with this, let me make it clear: so do we; we need a smooth "bottom" if you will to move through life. And yet like a boat, we have very little control over the 'stuff' that cakes up underneath. The pace of life dictates, that at times, we have to ignore some future issues. We have matters of "immediate importance," requiring attention from things we can see. All the while, other things go untouched, growing in priority. Even when we can "get around to it,"  our effort is half-hearted, not considering the matter important enough to completely remove and rid ourselves. Sometimes, we trust "everything will work out," not really knowing what to do. But oh, these BARNACLES grow and impede our progress at the exact WRONG time! When we least expect it, we find we our stopped in our tracks, by something we should have taken care of, a long time ago!

Get my point?