S06E001, Matchstick Solutions, Andy B 2 Minute Video
If you’ve ever removed a screw and put it back in to the same hole, you may know what feeling of panic when that screw simply keeps turning, and won’t tighten anymore. The hole has become worn, and so needs something to hold that screw firmly back in place.
A simple trick I was taught decades ago is to simply push in half a matchstick (and with the burning part removed!) and try that screw again. The tiny sliver of wood literally packs out the hole and gives the screw something to bind against, so it can be tightened properly. Perhaps try again with an additional half a match stick until that screw holds tight again.
Various moments in our lives cause to wiggle around a bit and we can become a bit loose, but what do we fill those voids with? Well, we can apply a similar solution to that wiggle room we have created in our lives, and pack those voids around us. Only, we use the Holy Spirit to fill those gaps and there is never a risk of a sore finger!
God uses boundaries to protect us, but as we push and pull against them we can work our way loose away from Him. How do we make it right again? Just spend some time reading the bible, praying to God or listening to the Holy Spirit - and you’ll soon find that wiggle room has been healthily re-filled.
Sure, wiggle room can enable you to get away with things! But you simply won’t feel as secure as when you can be held tightly in the arms of God.
So, stop wriggling!
Just a thought...
Andy B
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Transcript
[00:00:00] Andy B: So another Andy B two minute video, and this is season six first episode, so here we go. Matchstick Solutions, forgot the title already. Have you ever found yourself trying to put a screw into a hole in the wall? Perhaps a wall plug, I'm not quite sure what they are called around the world, but it's the plastic thing you go into the wall, the screw goes into the plastic thing, we call them in the UK a wall plug.
[00:00:31] And it goes in, and that's what it does. The wall plug goes in the wall, the screw goes into the wall plug, and it holds it, because it squishes out. And the plastic and the metal, it expands inside the hole, in order to make it work. Over time, if you're taking that screw in and out a few times, perhaps if you've drilled too large a hole, perhaps where you've drilled through into that wall it's too soft, or you've got the wrong sort of wall plug, what can happen is it becomes really, really loose.
[00:00:58] But there is a really simple old [00:01:00] school solution which I was taught about 30 years ago. You take a matchstick, you break it in half, you burn the burnable end of the matchstick, you blow it out, and then you put that into the wall, into that wall plug, maybe two of those, depending on how much of a gap you've got.
[00:01:15] You put the screw back into that wall plug and it holds it firmly in place. I've used this in all sorts of things. I've used it in walls, I've used it in wooden furniture. When we've got a piece of furniture, we've had to move a few times it gets worn 'cause it's not designed to do that. It gets loose and floppy. Put a matchstick in, all of a sudden you've got yourself a nice tight hole, and it holds it together well.
[00:01:38] In our lives we have different opinions, they change over time what we think, how we think them, why we think them. Our selves can become a bit loose on what we think and sometimes, we need to pack out that understanding, because you kind of move around and we wobble and all that stuff, and we pack it with God, we pack it with Scripture, we pack it with the [00:02:00] Holy Spirit. We pack that hole that we are creating from all that movement with more of God. And what it does is it makes us more secure, means we can be more firm.
[00:02:12] Matchstick Solutions. There's often a simple solution to the problem that we face. When we're not thinking quite so clearly, when we're a bit confused and perhaps we're not quite sure what we think or why we think it, go back to Scripture, and plug those holes that we are creating with something that is gonna last.
[00:02:29] If it's a hole in your wall or your furniture, matchstick is brilliant. Cheap, available, easy, shove it in, put the screw in. If it's your life, go back to God and refill those holes that we are creating with more of Jesus, and you will feel more secure as he fills out around you. Just a thought