Half and Half.
I snickered to myself while reaching into the refrigerated section at the grocery store today. Yes, yes I was buying a large container of half and half just for me, and have full intention of using it all- I like coffee. But that's not what made my insides laugh. After carefully making my selection and upon reaching in, I noticed this label a little farther down: Fat free half and half. Seriously? There is such a thing? And do people really buy such a thing? The whole thing is contradictory. If it's truly half and half, it's definitely not fat free! And it's called milk, you're buying milk. And considering the fact that the second ingredient is corn syrup, I would argue that it's more unhealthy than my large container of full-fat half and half, but that's for another time.
Jesus is funny, We play this game of analogies. He loves to give them to me, sometimes they come quickly, other times because He likes to draw things out a bit longer, on days like today, I can't stop thinking about it. This ridiculous, snicker producing label has actually made me think a lot. Maybe as humans we're not very good at labeling things, maybe we shouldn't be so quick to accept labels that are put on us, or maybe we label ourselves, but are completely wrong.
I could take a look around at my circumstances and say the cream, the good stuff, is lacking and call my life fat-free. Pretty undesirable, not really pleasant, and definitely not enjoyable. Or I could take something that's good -milk, or my life, days, hours- and turn it into something that it was not made to be: Skim. Rather lacking in nutritional value and substance and then because I've stripped it of it's Goodness, I'll add in some filler, thickener, who knows maybe even some corn syrup. I take my life, something that could be good, strip away what was supposed to be, and then fill it's place with something less than satisfying to hope and get the desired outcome, but really I've just misplaced everything from it's rightful place. All of that can seem right for a while, but when you know what it aught to be, it won't fulfill, nor should it. Jesus says to count it all joy, to choose joy, that in all things, everywhere, we can find joy. That perspective really is a big deal. That even when things aren't fun or going as I thought they should, I can choose to believe that God works all things together for good, that He is bringing about much good, maybe He just has to prepare me for it. Like the unmistakable fact that I'm going to be in a completely remote and uncivilized area and have to work on my car- because I've learned way too much about cars for that not to happen. ;) But that's a rabbit trail. Sometimes Jesus leads us through things to bring us to things. Sometimes we need refining, He asks us to be shaped and fashioned just a bit more so that He can use us for something so much more. Our circumstances don't define us, but sometimes they do show us what we're made of. And sometimes what we're made of needs to be reordered. Sometimes the first ingredient should be the last, or vise-versa. I can have the wrong priorities, I can fill my days with things that don't matter and really just take the place of Jesus. I don't want my life to be full of filler, but to be full of the One who fills all things with life abundant, joy, peace, hope, purpose.
And then sometimes our labels are completely wrong. Sometimes we say of others or our selves that we're good for nothing. I can think of labels that people have put on me, even well-meaning labels, that I let define me, or just weren't accurate. I've lived out of what others thought of me or maybe even what I thought others thought of me, and ran a little too far with it. Do we realize that we can never be too far gone for God to redeem? Do we realize that who we are now doesn't ultimately matter because God tells us who we can and will be, and that really no one has the right to label us, because God already has. Thus, we can tear the labels off that ill-define us. And we can choose to see as Jesus does and not put labels on others that don't belong as well. But be careful not to go too far in the other direction as well. I'm more than guilty of being like the pharisees who looked good on the out side, who had all the right labels, but were filthy and not looking so great on the inside. I need to look a little further than my outer, but get to the innards. I can look like I'm looking pretty good, but what am I really made of? And if you really want Jesus to pull out what doesn't belong, go read Psalm 139: 23-24 everyday and mean it, There's no better way to be changed than to enter His presence seeking out just that.
All that to say, I'm going to choose to be half and half in a fat free world. Where they think that putting a label on or changing the wording on something makes it all right. And many have bought into the lies, that is the enemy's day job- twisting the truth, creating lies- after all. I'm going to say to heck with the labels, I want to see things as they truly are. After all Jesus tells me this: I can be complete, not lacking, or deficient in anything. But I have to let perseverance, patience, faithfulness have it's work in my life to produce the desired outcome.
I raise my mug to you, cheers! - hannaH
Jesus is funny, We play this game of analogies. He loves to give them to me, sometimes they come quickly, other times because He likes to draw things out a bit longer, on days like today, I can't stop thinking about it. This ridiculous, snicker producing label has actually made me think a lot. Maybe as humans we're not very good at labeling things, maybe we shouldn't be so quick to accept labels that are put on us, or maybe we label ourselves, but are completely wrong.
I could take a look around at my circumstances and say the cream, the good stuff, is lacking and call my life fat-free. Pretty undesirable, not really pleasant, and definitely not enjoyable. Or I could take something that's good -milk, or my life, days, hours- and turn it into something that it was not made to be: Skim. Rather lacking in nutritional value and substance and then because I've stripped it of it's Goodness, I'll add in some filler, thickener, who knows maybe even some corn syrup. I take my life, something that could be good, strip away what was supposed to be, and then fill it's place with something less than satisfying to hope and get the desired outcome, but really I've just misplaced everything from it's rightful place. All of that can seem right for a while, but when you know what it aught to be, it won't fulfill, nor should it. Jesus says to count it all joy, to choose joy, that in all things, everywhere, we can find joy. That perspective really is a big deal. That even when things aren't fun or going as I thought they should, I can choose to believe that God works all things together for good, that He is bringing about much good, maybe He just has to prepare me for it. Like the unmistakable fact that I'm going to be in a completely remote and uncivilized area and have to work on my car- because I've learned way too much about cars for that not to happen. ;) But that's a rabbit trail. Sometimes Jesus leads us through things to bring us to things. Sometimes we need refining, He asks us to be shaped and fashioned just a bit more so that He can use us for something so much more. Our circumstances don't define us, but sometimes they do show us what we're made of. And sometimes what we're made of needs to be reordered. Sometimes the first ingredient should be the last, or vise-versa. I can have the wrong priorities, I can fill my days with things that don't matter and really just take the place of Jesus. I don't want my life to be full of filler, but to be full of the One who fills all things with life abundant, joy, peace, hope, purpose.
And then sometimes our labels are completely wrong. Sometimes we say of others or our selves that we're good for nothing. I can think of labels that people have put on me, even well-meaning labels, that I let define me, or just weren't accurate. I've lived out of what others thought of me or maybe even what I thought others thought of me, and ran a little too far with it. Do we realize that we can never be too far gone for God to redeem? Do we realize that who we are now doesn't ultimately matter because God tells us who we can and will be, and that really no one has the right to label us, because God already has. Thus, we can tear the labels off that ill-define us. And we can choose to see as Jesus does and not put labels on others that don't belong as well. But be careful not to go too far in the other direction as well. I'm more than guilty of being like the pharisees who looked good on the out side, who had all the right labels, but were filthy and not looking so great on the inside. I need to look a little further than my outer, but get to the innards. I can look like I'm looking pretty good, but what am I really made of? And if you really want Jesus to pull out what doesn't belong, go read Psalm 139: 23-24 everyday and mean it, There's no better way to be changed than to enter His presence seeking out just that.
All that to say, I'm going to choose to be half and half in a fat free world. Where they think that putting a label on or changing the wording on something makes it all right. And many have bought into the lies, that is the enemy's day job- twisting the truth, creating lies- after all. I'm going to say to heck with the labels, I want to see things as they truly are. After all Jesus tells me this: I can be complete, not lacking, or deficient in anything. But I have to let perseverance, patience, faithfulness have it's work in my life to produce the desired outcome.
I raise my mug to you, cheers! - hannaH
Comments
Post a Comment