Removing Rocks..........................

A little boy was spending his Saturday morning playing in his
sandbox. He had with him his box of cars and trucks, his plastic
pail, and a shiny, red plastic shovel. In the process of creating
roads and tunnels in the soft sand, he discovered a large rock in
the middle of the sandbox.
The boy dug around the rock, managing to dislodge it from the
dirt. With a little bit of struggle, he pushed and nudged the
rock across the sandbox by using his feet. (He was a very small
boy, and the rock was very large.) When the boy got the rock to
the edge of the sandbox however, he found that he couldn't roll
it up and over the little wall.
Determined, the little boy shoved, pushed, and pried, but every
time he thought he had made some progress, the rock tipped and
then fell back into the sandbox. The little boy grunted,
struggled, pushed, & shoved; but his only reward was to have the
rock roll back, smashing his chubby fingers.
Finally he burst into tears of frustration. All this time the
boy's father watched from his living room window as the drama
unfolded. At the moment the tears fell, a large shadow fell
across the boy and the sandbox. It was the boy's father. Gently
but firmly he said,
"Son, why didn't you use all the strength that you had
available?"
Defeated, the boy sobbed back,
"But I did, Daddy, I did! I used all the strength that I had!"
"No, son," corrected the father kindly.
"You didn't use all the strength you had. You didn't ask me."
With that the father reached down, picked up the rock and removed
it from the sandbox.
Do you have "rocks" in your life that need to be removed? Are you
discovering that you don't have what it takes to lift them? There
is One who is always available to us and willing to give us the
strength we need. Isn't it funny how we try so hard to do things
ourselves.
-- Author Unknown