Being a Christian is like being a pumpkin...

I think we try to hard for analogies. Have you seen this e-mail?
“Being a Christian is like being a pumpkin. God lifts you up, takes you in, and washes all the dirt off of you. He opens you up, touches you deep inside and scoops out all the yucky stuff-- including the seeds of doubt, hate, greed, etc. Then He carves you a new smiling face and puts His light inside you to shine for all the world to see. This was passed on to me from another pumpkin. Now, it is your turn to pass it to a pumpkin. I liked this enough to send it to all the pumpkins in my patch. Happy Fall!”

Why is it so many “pumpkins” look scary and unhappy? And the longer they sit outside on the front porch the scarier they look. They wither up and everything puckers to the inside. If I’m going to compare my Christian life to a pumpkin, turn me into a pie and top me with whipped cream. Pie looks good, smells good, tastes good and doesn’t come with a scowling face. Actually brings a little pleasure to life and generally is followed by a nap. Don’t get much better than that.
I love Halloween. Some may think it’s the devil’s holiday, but anything with that much candy has to be Heaven sent. I love all things pumpkins, including jack-o-lanterns.
This year Whitney is a bee. Not a sexy bee (because she is just 13), but not bee girl from Blind Melon’s “No Rain” video either. Best part is, it’s a friends costume from last year, so NO $$$ were spent procuring this costume. She is going to a party at a friend’s house after the volleyball tournament, so I won’t get pictures unless I make her dress up again.

Conversations with Whitney

Whitney (at age 8) had set up a TV box as a “store” one weekend. She talked everyone in to coming to her store and buying things from her, with real money. Nothing like spending my money to buy granola bars, cookies and diet coke that I had already paid for once at Walmart, but it kept her occupied for hours. The next morning she got up and went to her store and asked her dad to come shop. He told her she was still in her pajamas and she had to get dressed for work.

She says, “but it’s casual Friday”.

I don't know me!

I was walking through the plant today and saw someone and thought, “that lady has a dress like mine”. For those of you thinking no one else in the world would dress like me, you are right; it was my reflection in a mirror. I didn’t recognize myself. There are a few reasons, I haven’t worn this dress since cold weather, my allergies are bad and when I wear my contacts my eyes itch so I’ve been wearing glasses. I got new glasses this summer after having the same ones for about 6 years, and I rarely look at myself in the mirror at home when I’m wearing them. I just got my hair done (color) and it’s in a new style (okay, it’s not a new style, it’s raining and my hair has a mind of it’s own on rainy days). My dress also fits different than it did 600 miles ago. I laughed at myself that I saw someone and didn’t recognize myself. This goes along with the idea of our sermon this week. I have not heard a preview or even know anything about it beyond the topic, which is the monster within, and I only know this because Steve told me. Even without knowing what will be said, this is one I won’t miss, because I know the monster in me. Not recognizing myself in a mirror is funny, but it has happened in other instances as well. Have you ever been in a situation where someone told you a negative something about yourself and you didn’t get it? You don’t see yourself that way at all. Flip side, someone sees something positive in you and you don’t see that either. This has happened to me a lot. And I think I’m pretty easy to know, but then again I didn’t recognize myself walking through the factory, so I could be way off base.Fooling myself doesn’t happen often. I’m a realist. I’m not a pessimist, I don’t believe the worst is always going to happen, but I’m not an optimist either. I don’t believe the best is always going to happen. John 16:33 says “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” (NLT) Jesus tells us life is going to be hard here on earth. No one gets a pass on this. But he gives us the answer to this; have peace IN HIM because he has overcome this world with its many trials and sorrows. When I think of trials and sorrows, this has been a rough season for me. Not so much my trials and sorrows, but feeling the pain from friends who have suffered. I can’t begin to say I feel it like they do. Cancer, death, job losses, children having problems, health issues in general, financial difficulties, just loss of hope that there will be something better in the days to come. Then I read this verse. I regularly read this chapter and keep it in mind where the people I love are concerned because I need the reminder that if I love these people (and I do) then this is how it’s done. This verse spoke to me just a little differently today. Romans 13:7 “Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance”. (NLT)Always before I have looked at it as never giving up on the people I love, and enduring through the tough times because better days are coming. But today I realized that this love comes from our Savior. I don’t give up, because I want to do what is right. I want to hear the words from Matthew 25:21 “well done” someday. I don’t lose faith, because in Hebrews 11:6 “without faith it is impossible to please Him”, I always hope, because Romans 15:13 “God, the source of hope,” and I endure because Hebrews 12:7 “as we endure this discipline…God is dealing with us as children”. One thing I learned over the last 4 months of my physical training for a marathon is there are many parallels to life. Sometimes you are running uphill against a 25 mph straight line wind and you want to quit. But you slow down and walk and let people around you encourage to keep going. Sometimes you are hot and sweaty and hungry and thirsty, so you stop and take a break and refuel. You endure the trials and tests of training because when it’s time to really step up and face the “race” you want to have the strength to finish, and finish well. I have always hated this analogy that God gives you these struggles to prepare you, because it meant the trials and struggles I was facing were getting me ready for the race, and if the training is this hard, then what is the race going to be like? But then I did my marathon training and ran the race. I made a huge discovery. The actual race was so much easier than the training. I was prepared. I hope when I don’t recognize myself it’s because I’m getting better.

I have learned

1. Green beans do not make a good snack. Unless they are deep fried and dipped in ranch.
2. People that make the doors and walls of public bathrooms have a sense of humor. I was in one the other day and they were manufactured by “Hiny Hiders”.
3. Age 41 is better than age 21, even with wrinkles, gray hair and the effects of gravity. I’ve lived through both, so I’m an expert.
4. Being able to eat 2 donuts for breakfast, 2 cupcakes for lunch and a Braum’s banana split for dinner (this is what happens when I’m left on my own for a day) and still have a 2 pound weight loss at weight watcher’s the next day can set a very bad precedent.
5. I can walk 50 feet on a 3 inch wide concrete rail in 4 inch platform oxfords without falling. I did this to keep from getting mud on my light colored leather/linen oxfords. I wonder if that would have been as important had I fallen off and broke my ankle? Hindsight, anyone?
6. Four teenage boys cannot sneak through your living room, office and kitchen behind your back without being noticed.