Imperfect Pumpkins & An Imperfect Me

I took a trip to the corn maze and pumpkin patch yesterday. It’s funny how you can be looking at a map or a visual guide and still feel like you don’t KNOW where you are or where you’re going. I guess it’s like that with life sometimes. You can have a general awareness of where you are, but the details are fuzzy.

While we were there, we walked around the pumpkin patch. We saw pumpkins of all shapes and sizes and colors. There were small, hard, white pumpkins that, while they were aesthetically pleasing, would only be useful for decoration; you couldn’t carve them into a jack-o-lantern. There were gourds that were also beautiful to look at, with their varying colors. Some were all orange, some were orange and green, some were yellow; but the one characteristic they all shared were the bumps on the outside. Some had few, while others had many.

When we made it to the bigger pumpkins, you know the ones you search for to carve; there were rows upon rows of these magnificent creations. As we walked through the vast array of pumpkins, we found some that were perfectly orange. Some were more round than others. Some were tall and skinny, while others were short and fat. Some were flat on one side. Some were even rotting. Some were dirty from sitting in the mud from the recent rain. Some were clean, as though someone had walked along and brushed the dried mud off of them. Despite the fact that we were not planning to buy a pumpkin, it was still enjoyable to look at and compare the many sizes and shapes of the pumpkins available.

I sit now and think about how I can feel like a pumpkin. Waiting, while everyone walks around you and the other pumpkins near you, in search of their ‘perfect’ pumpkin. Waiting, for someone to come along and scoop you up and say, “You are just right for me.” Waiting, for someone to come along and say to you, “You are worthy of being on display at my house.” Waiting, for someone to recognize all of the wonderful qualities you have to offer. Waiting, for someone to choose you. Waiting, for just the right person, that one person, who knows all of your bumps and discolorations and misshapen features, and still chooses you. Chooses you to love. Chooses you to share their bumps and misshapen features with. Chooses you to trust. Chooses you to dream their dreams with.

I’m so glad that I have a Creator who doesn’t view just my exterior. Who doesn’t look at my bumps and bruises and scars and see them as the world sees them. He sees my scars as beautiful. He views my flaws and sees a work-in-progress. He sees what no one else can. You see, when I look at a pumpkin, I can smell the aroma of roasting pumpkin seeds. I can recall from years past, the crisp, salty flavor of that first bite into the seeds. I can even go back to a time, so long ago, that I was in elementary school at Mulberry, roasting pumpkin seeds in my first grade class.

In 1 Samuel 16:7, the Lord says to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” This came after the Lord rejected Saul as king and a new king was sought. The Lord had sent Samuel to Jesse, from whose lineage a new king would be chosen. Verse 6 reads, “When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, ‘Surely the Lord’s anointed stands here before the Lord.’” See, Eliab was the oldest of Jesse’s sons, and so Samuel assumed the eldest was to be the new king. However, as verse 7 tells us, the Lord sees our hearts and there was something in Eliab’s heart that made him unsuitable to be king.

I am drawn to Psalm 139:13-14, which reads, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made…” These verses remind me that I am exactly how God has made me. Granted, I’ve exercised free will several times in my life, so where I am in my life has also been influenced by my choices. But, God made me the perfect combination of my mom and my dad. He made me, flaws and all, so that through my free will and my circumstances, I would bring Him the glory.

See, that’s what we are all here for. To bring God the glory. From every situation. In every circumstance. In good times and in bad. Because it’s not about us anyway. So, on this day, I choose to give God the glory. For creating me in such a way that He knew He would get the glory from my life.

Grace...

Head on over to http://www.handmedowngrace.com/2013/09/when-stitches-pull-tight-free-art.html to get this free printable. Because Grace is the BIGGEST kind of brave!

Change & Grace

How much can one person really change? I feel I can say that I’ve really changed; but am I willing to extend that same grace to others? To see evidence of change in their lives? To really SEARCH for the confirmation that I’m seeking that change has occurred? 

Yesterday, God gave me the opportunity to really test my ability to extend grace. And to believe in His ability to change people, without there being any real proof that He is in their lives. But just to have FAITH. 

As I woke this morning to read my devotions, I read yesterday’s devotion in my ‘Putting Your Faith into Action Today’ book by Dr. Robert H. Schuller. Its entry read like this:

FAITH IS…

Respecting persons after you know them.

“Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.”  ~1 Peter 2:17

Today the challenge you and I have is to respect the people with whom we live, work, and closely relate. Can we respect them after we’ve seen them at their worst? The answer must be a resounding YES.

How can our faith perform this miracle? Quite simply. Our faith reminds us that we too are imperfect human beings.

Our faith reminds us that God loves us even though He knows us better than anybody else! And if God loves us in spite of what we are, He will give us the grace to pass that charitable spirit along!

 
Hebrews 11:1 (NIV) tells us, “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” As I re-read and study this verse, something pops out at me. You can interpret this to read like this, “Now, faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” With this interpretation, you would expect the reader to pause after ‘now,’ as though the author is saying, “Ok understand that, faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”
 

However, there is no comma in the scripture verse. Which then leads me to view it a little differently. The way I choose to interpret this verse is that the author is saying ‘NOW faith.’ Meaning, not the faith you had yesterday. Or the faith you’ll have tomorrow. But rather the faith you have NOW. So, I believe the scripture author is really calling you on the carpet to prove your faith. Your ‘NOW’ faith. Forget the faith you had yesterday. Pay no mind to the faith you hope to have tomorrow. What is your faith RIGHT NOW telling you to do? 

2 Corinthians 5:7 (NIV) tells us, “For we live by faith, not by sight.” The King James Version uses ‘walk’ rather than ‘live,’ to read, “For we walk by faith, not by sight.” Despite the fact that I memorized this verse in the KJV, I prefer the NIV version, as ‘live’ indicates to me that it is a daily, moment-by-moment, decision to LIVE my life out in faith. 

This verse challenges me, because it goes against everything that is in my gut. My gut tells me that ‘the proof is in the pudding’ and that I need to SEE evidence of change in this individual, before I can trust and respect them. However, that is not what God calls me to do. He calls me to live in faith that the change has occurred. That He has gotten ahold of this individual and ‘knocked some sense’ into them. It’s not my job to look for that. It’s not my responsibility to hold this person accountable. My only responsibility is to Him; to LIVE by faith…my NOW faith…and to remember that, I too, am an imperfect being. I’m called to love and respect despite the fact that I saw this person at their worst. Because that’s what He did and is doing for me. And you.

Apples & God

I recently discovered that an apple tree in my backyard produces the most ah-mazing apples! They are the perfect combination of tart and sweet and produce the perfect crunch when you bite into them. The kids and I spent quite a while basking in yesterday’s glorious, skin-warming sun picking these little red treasures.

While they went onto ride bikes on the road surrounded by this year’s corn and soybean crops, I pondered long and hard about the many options for my apples. I grabbed a large bowl, my peeler, a knife and the basket of apples. I took my place on the front porch, with the long shadows of the house and the trees surrounding me and set about peeling the splendid riches God provided.

As I was peeling these apples, I couldn’t help but contemplate that this is how God means for us to be. He wants to peel away our tough exterior – the protective coating – the shell we use to try to keep all things at bay. He strives to shave away this covering so that we can be transparent – vulnerable – exposed so that we can be a witness to others around us.

As I was cutting out the bad spots in the apples, I realized this is how God prepares us too. He turns us all around, looks us over, and removes the ‘bad spots’ – things like selfishness, greed, laziness, pride, envy. He desires for us to grasp that we are more than our exterior – by what the world judges us.

Once my work with the apple was complete, I was left with a misshapen, grouted, ‘holey’ apple on the outside. It looked ANYTHING but perfect…you know, perfect like the ones you see in the stores – all perfectly apple shaped, perfectly polished and perfectly shiny – on display to be chosen as the best looking, sweet, crisp, perfect treat. But one bite into this deformed beauty would have your taste buds dancing!

It began to dawn on me that that is how we Christians can be made to feel – that we have to have it all together – we have to be perfectly smooth, impeccably glossy; perfect in our outward appearance. But what God glorifies in - - - what He lives, and loves, for, is allowing us to be bruised, broken, misshapen, and vulnerable on the outside, so that, when He peels back our dirty exterior, prods out our bad spots like pride and vanity, we can be cut into to be used in a recipe for something greater – something we may know nothing of…we are just trusting in the Master Baker. So when we have fulfilled our purpose, we don’t see ourselves as the beginning product – the ugly apple – we only see and experience ourselves as the beautiful finished product – an ingredient in God’s recipe for delicious apple crisp – tart and sweet at the same time.

Because life is full of moments that are tart and biting, ones that make us pucker up. But it’s also filled to the dish’s edge with sweet moments – those we know we should savor. And it’s the combination of these moments – the ‘good’ and the ‘bad’ – that make us a creation of the Creator’s…a reason to cling to His goodness and rejoice in every acidic and sugary sweet flash in time.