Perceptions #200151

"Life in the Crab Basket"

by Jerry Hodge

I heard a preacher talking one time about catching crabs on the northeast coast of the United States. One thing he noticed was that sailors many times would forget to put the lid on the crab basket. The preacher, a problem solver by nature, would follow the sailors to make sure the lid was on.

Once a shore the captain called out to the preacher and explained why the lid wasn't necessary. If you have more than one crab in the basket the other crabs will not allow the first one to climb out. When a crab nears the top another crab will quickly pull it back to the bottom. The crabs themselves are the lid!

Do you ever feel like you live in a crab basket? Whenever you want to climb to the top, make positive changes, or improve your life there is always someone pulling you down. I remember a quote from 1921, "Babe Ruth made a big mistake when he gave up pitching!" Feel the crabs of criticism pulling us back.

However, there is one way we are different from the crabs. I find people who will pull themselves down. Remember Charlie Brown who said there is no problem, no matter how big he couldn't run from. So we climb until the fear of freedom stops us. So we choose relationships with people we think we deserve. We attempt only the things we think we can achieve. We ourselves are the lid!

Isn't it time we took off the lids in our lives and climbed out to the place where we should be? Isn't it time to ignore the crowds and believe God? Isn't it time to stop hurting ourselves and climb? Don't spend one more day in the crab basket!

Achieve the impossible!

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