junk

Getting Squeezed

/ tilson123 / Leave a comment

Now that I have returned to work at Chick Fil A, it was inevitable that I would become hooked on their newest product, the frosted lemonade…or as I call it YUMMMMM!!!  Seriously!  It is addictive to the maximum, and one reason that I love it is because it has no milkshake base- it’s just their vanilla softserve mixed with lemonade.  Oh. My. Word!  I finally managed to leave today without drinking one!

But this blog is not about how delicious it is.  It IS about the process that goes into making it.  Chick Fil A uses fresh lemons, not any powdered lemonade mix or such.  Today was my day to handle that process, and God spoke to my heart the whole time.  Those lemons are quite content in their little (heavy!!) box in the cooler, having a great time.  Then along comes an employee who drags them out, sprays them with water, washes all the dirt off and then…..gasp!……starts cutting them!  Those lemons never knew what was happening!  Before long, a lemon massacre has happened in the sink, and no lemon is spared.

The next step is even worse.  There is an electric juicer involved, wherein each lemon half is placed on a whirring knob, and then pressed down on.  And pressed is a polite word!  They are MASHED on the knob, and left on there until every last possible bit of juice is out of them.  The lemon seeds are cast aside by this machine, and scooped out later and thrown in the trash.  And then that lovely lemon juice is made into some of the most delicious, refreshing drinks.

Ok – so you know where I am going with this!  Born again believers are simply sinners who have been washed clean, and then they are ready for use.  But not the use most of us think of!  They are ready to be cut, and then squeezed, in order to be made into something delicious!  And along the way, the squeezing gets pretty intense, but that is in order to wring out every good thing, and to make sure all the seeds (sins) are gone! And like the lemons, there are times that the squeezing could stop – but then some of the good stuff would be sacrificed..the lemon wouldn’t be used to its fullest potential.

Now, I do not like the “squeezing” I receive sometimes – hardship, illness, frustration, financial distress.  But without it, I will never be the refreshing, beautiful, and helpful “lemonade” in God’s Kingdom!  So here’s my prayer for today – the next time I feel “squeezed”, I will remember what God can make of it, and I will try to endure till the end of the process!

A Daily Scrub

/ tilson123 / Leave a comment

I love bath and body products – love, love love them!  And I am always finding one that works, and then going to the store a month or so later, and then finding out that of course it was being discontinued and would never be mine again.  If you are a woman, you KNOW what I mean!

I ran out of my face cleanser last week, that I loved, and of course today when I went to buy it again…..not there.  Not anywhere.  So I looked and pondered and considered this afternoon, mulling over all the possiblities, and chose a scrub this time by the same company.

I evidently did not read the entire label, because when I used it tonight, the first sensation was scrub….and the second was my face being on fire!!  As soon as I could get my face rinsed and my eyes focused, I looked at the label and saw these two words:  energizing (no joke!) and “pore-reducing” (loss of skin cells!)  Oh yeah, I was definitely impressed that I got my money’s worth.  And then I saw another word – peppermint – on the label – there’s the fire!  I don’t know if you have intentionally poured peppermint on any part of your skin lately, but it will ENERGIZE you – to get it off as soon as possibile!

However, now that the fire is out, I can feel a difference in my skin.  It does feel smoother, and it does feel much cleaner.  And I dare any dead skin cells to still be there.

Which leads me to this thought – that’s just the way I feel after reading God’s Word.  The Word of God is designed to “scrub” my heart, soul, mind and emotions.  It is designed to close those “pores” – the inroads that sin may have begun to make.  And it definitely energizes me!  It makes me cleaner – and more usable.  It makes my path smoother, because I have been directed by God for that day’s journey and I am less likely to get “dirty” with sin. And it removes all those dead “skin cells” – those unpleasing thoughts, attitudes, and words that may be lurking in my soul.

So – while I will never recommend peppermint for the skin, I will always recommend the Word to anyone whose life or journey needs energizing – its the best thing around!  To Him be the glory!

Rearranging is NOT Progress

/ tilson123 / 1 Comment

Yesterday in the Walmart parking lot I watched a very interesting thing happen.  I had just pulled in and something caught my eye in the row across from me.  A woman and a young boy were struggling to get something out of the car..and I mean struggling!  Not wanting to miss out on anything, I stayed put to watch.  They were finally able to get it out after about 10 minutes and it was a very large car seat.  Humongous. They took the carseat and threw it into the back side passenger seat on top of something else. Just then another woman approached with 2 -two-FULL buggies of stuff!  And they were going to that car!

I watched again as they began to put the bags in the trunk they had just emptied.  The first buggy full barely made it in there, and they began trying to stuff part of the 2nd buggy in there as well.  No go.  They finally opened the back passenger side door and began to cram bags in on top of the car seat…up to the ceiling of the car!  Then they stuffed the poor young boy on the other side, they got in, and took off.

So what’s the point of all this?  The point is that they had too much junk in their car to put in what they needed!  AND they thought that rearranging the junk was going to make a difference.

God spoke so clearly in that moment.  The junk in the car represents the junk in my life..all the things I need to throw out because they take up too much room.  The sin, the bad habits, etc.  The buggies represent all the good things, the blessings, the joy, and the peace that God wants to give me.  And I look at Him and say, “just a minute God and I will make room for those”..but all I do is rearrange my junk..not get rid of what is blocking the way! And I am not a bit more successful in creating room for the good things.

moral of this story is, I am going to start throwing out, not rearranging..so that God can work in me and add the good stuff!