Some time ago, I went on a personal prayer retreat. The retreat facility where I stayed overlooked the Mississippi River. One day as I walked along the shore of the river I noticed several places where man-made piles of rock jutted out into the water. These were not just small accumulations of stones but large boulders forming blockades, fifty feet out into the river. At the time I wondered why they were made.
Later, as I sat outside the small hermitage where I stayed, I noticed that just down river from each of these collections of rocks was a place where the shoreline was considerably worn away. These stone barricades were not just someone’s personal piers for walking on. The ferocious waters of the mighty Mississippi were wearing away large sections of shore line. The never-ceasing current of that great river had pulled away rocks and soil from the edge. Left unchecked, those waters would have destroyed even more of those sections of river bank. These blockades were obviously designed to help keep any more of the shore from eroding.
Are there places where you need to build some blockades in your life? Are there areas of your spiritual life that have worn away that need to be protected?
To Make You Think 