I'll confess I was a bit worried about this morning’s reading.  I remembered 1 Corinthians 5 as the part about the man who’s sleeping with his stepmother – inspiring stuff, for sure! :-) So I specifically asked God to teach me something practical. 

This passage jumped out at me: 1 Cor 5:6- 8 “Don’t you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough? 7 Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth.”

I couldn't figure out what this could mean for me at first. So I pasted it into a word document and started by summarizing it  in my own words.  Then I saw what God was trying to tell me. I was reminded of all the 'little things' I do in my day that I shouldn't do at the time – checking facebook during my prayer time, reading a few pages from a storybook when I should be studying and so on... 

It happened yesterday! I knew I needed to get an assignment done, but I kept checking my blog and facebook. Then I wandered off and read a storybook for an hour.  After I put the book down, I felt so far from God I cried. 

I keep asking God to lead me through the day, and then so often I go off and do my own thing.  It has happened so many times I had to wonder, "Will I ever change?" and also, the question of "Why is God so far when what I did was so innocent?"

I feel like God explained it to me in this morning's passage.  These little things, like those few grains of yeast change  my whole direction and break my connection with God.  It is kind of like we are on this road together and when I veer off to do my own thing, I am unclasping my hand from his and leaving the path. It might only seem like a small step off the path, but it leads away from the path.  Once I have left the path, I find I have to to turn around and struggle back before I can be back at His side, walking hand in hand again.

But praise God!  This passage reminded me that even though  I might mix some deadly yeast into my life, that’s not who I am.  God continues to call me back to himself and into my true identity – the new me.
 
Daddy, thank you! now I understand... You can’t come with me when I leave the path, because that is the devil’s territory. So that's is why I feel so alone and empty when I go off and do my own thing!  But you always take me back with open arms. You give me sweet words of comfort and love. You remind me of who I am - I am yours. How I want to walk with you, hand in hand always!