I have come to believe that there is a connection between kid’s beach balls and adult issues. Here is what I mean

When I was young I loved playing with beach balls in the water. I would try and hold the ball under the water but no matter how hard I tried eventually it would escape my grasp and break the surface, sometimes in a wild uncontrollable way shooting into the air.

Now imagine that the beach ball are some of the “issues” we have as adults. I was thinking how that I often try and treat them the way I did with my beach ball and hold them under the surface. We think we are free of them but of course they are really still there, just under the surface. The problem is that like the beach balls we played with as kids our adult issues will, no matter how hard we try,  eventually pop to the surface of our lives.

When our beach ball issues break the surface of our lives, suddenly the invisible become visible and the unconscious become conscious. This can lead to discomfort, pain and even crisis for us and for those around us.

I think this is partly what Jesus is talking about when he says

Let me ask you are you holding any “beach balls” deep down in your soul? Issues that you have suppressed and tried to forget. I have to warn you they will eventually burst to the surface in your life, into your mind, into your actions, into your relationships.

I don’t have any magic formula for dealing with “beach ball issues” all I know is that we can’t deal with them for as long as we try and hold them under the surface. True freedom has to start by facing up to the truth about them and acting on that truth. I know that Holy Spirit is more than ready, willing and able to help us do that.