Behaviors that trip us up: rooting out the stumbling blocks

Not long ago as I walked through our property, I tripped on a small tree stump but caught my balance. The next time, I wasn’t as fortunate and pitched forward to brace myself with my left arm—which I’d broken and had repaired two years earlier—then rolled onto my right side. For several weeks afterward, I felt the repercussions. I told my husband about the stump the previous owners had neglected to take the time or initiative to remove, and soon he went to work softening the dirt around it to dig it out by its roots. I can’t help but compare this scenario to our toxic behaviors—their roots also running deep—that act much like the stump by tripping us up on our daily journey. And how we must recognize these stumbling blocks so we can soften our hearts to root out the negative traits before they cause damage in our lives, or the lives of others.

Which stumbling block trips you up the most?