A few Saturdays ago, Nancy and I visited a local farmer’s market. There wasn’t much produce to speak of, this late in the year, but I was delighted to find someone shelling black-eyed peas!
Instantly, I went back to my boyhood, sitting on a farmhouse porch with my grandmother. We both had a bucket of unshelled black-eyes and a bowl to put the final product in.
Grandmother instructed me to shell several pods and then break one into small pieces, or snaps—to mix in with the peas. “Just keep doing that until your bucket’s empty,” she said.
But I was a hyper nine-year-old and quickly became bored. So, I came up with an ingenious plan: shell one pod and turn one into snaps, and keep doing that until my bucket was empty.
My maternal forebearer quickly realized something was amiss. She looked into my bowl and said “You have too many snaps!”
Jesus Christ’s closest friends had a moment like this. While he was up on a mountain, with Peter, James and John, his other disciples were unable to drive a demonic spirit out of a young boy.
Long story short, Jesus sends the demon packing and restores the lad to health. Later, His disciples ask him privately, “Why couldn’t we drive the demon out?”
This kind can come out only by prayer and fasting.
Jesus—Mark 9:29 (NIV)
Here’s my paraphrase: “Gentlemen, you have too many snaps! You’re not taking the time with God you need.”
Kind reader, has a lack of spiritual discipline ever kept you from God’s best? I confess, it has for me.
Back on the porch—after my scolding—grandmother handed me her bowl of shelled peas. “It should look like this,” she said, matter of factly.
Whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus did
1 John 2:6 (NIV)
Thank you for reading. 🙏❤️ prayers and love.
Davids Daily Dose 
Leave a comment