Saturday, February 28, 2009

I found the "good" one

Many of you know that my two nieces are the light of my life - and I am finding it is truly amazing what you can learn from them. Elizabeth is 5 and has already memorized the Old and the New Testament - books of the Bible. She is challenging Aunt San to do the same. - But then, her little brain isn't as full as mine, so I guess I have to be willing to cut myself a little slack. hahahaha Yes, I have taken her up on the challenge - and have 'remembered' all the New Testament books, and now am working on the Old Testament.

The other day I had the chance to spend a little time with Maddie(3) and Elizabeth (5). Maddie has this really bad habit, and Aunt San enjoys it to much to stop her yet. After hugs and kisses, Maddie always heads for Aunt San's pockets looking for "monies" for her piggy bank. Well the other day, I told her that I didn't have any "monies" but she kept patting my pockets. Then she started digging through the pockets of my scrub top. I figured she was probably looking for lip gloss, as they have discovered this and love it. I keep a tube of "kid friendly" flavored lip gloss in my car, and slip it in my pocket before entering the house. I figure that I can use the "kid" gloss on them, as it isn't going to stay on their lips very long - because they are always licking it off. And at least my Cherry Blistex lasts longer if they aren't "eating" it. All of a sudden she comes up with the tube of Strawberry whatever, she lays it on the end table and then starts digging again. Next thing I know, she smiles real big and says to Elizabeth - "look sister, I found the 'good' one". I had to laugh - she knew which one was the better one, and on that day she wasn't willing to settle for the cheap substitute.

The more I think about this I wonder if we, as Christians, aren't a little like this. We let the world give us some cheap imitation of success, acceptance, love instead of holding out for the "good" stuff. Maybe, we even carry this into our spiritual life also, we open "God's pocket", our Bible and skim through it - finding a scripture that will make us feel good - we've spent time with God. But how many times are we willing to take the time, and put in the effort to "dig" for the good stuff - and get excited when we find it. Jeremiah 29: 12-14a states 'you will call upon Me, and you will come and pray to Me, and I will hear and heed you. Then you will seek Me, inquire for, and require Me (as a vital necessity) and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you, says the Lord.' (Amplified version)
How often do we call upon Him, pray, even come to him, but aren't willing to really "seek Him", or go as far as to "Require Jesus as a vital necessity"? And then we are wondering why we don't seem to be having success in our spiritual life. How long has it been since you have been able to call up a Christian Sister and say "look sister, I found the 'good' one." I guess maybe spending more time with my nieces will help sharpen up my spiritual skills. And for those of you wondering, yes, they got the "good stuff" that day. Just a little something to think about.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I love the inferences made by using a child's innocent action , which as Christians, spiritually we should imitate as we dig deeper to find the "Good One::. Love it, keep 'em coming!