One strawberry is all I have been able to harvest from my very small patch of strawberries. All the rest have gone to feed the chipmunks & bunnies who live around my yard. I looked beautiful though, didn’t it? If I could only have one this is the one I would want, right?
Wrong.
It looked beautiful. The taste did not live up to expectations. It was beyond sour. No hint of sweetness lay beneath it’s beautiful surface. It was not a good berry. It’s as if the strawberry put all of it’s energy into looking good instead of helping it sweeten. It’s as if the priorities of the strawberry were slightly confused.
Lately I begun to wonder if our priorities as Christians are slightly confused. As I’ve been reading through the Bible there is one constant theme. God reminds us to take care of the widowed, the orphan and the foreigner. God reminds us to take care of the vulnerable in society. God wants us to care for one another.
God doesn’t want us to judge one another for reading 50 Shades of Grey or watching Magic Mike.
God doesn’t want us to focus our energy on keeping up appearances and looking the part.
God doesn’t want us to focus our energy on building maintenance or survival.
God wants us to love one another as he has loved us.
God wants us to care enough to invest our time and energy into those around us.
God wants it to be less about us and more about them.
Perhaps my expectations for the Strawberry were not correct. Perhaps I need to rethink my reaction. Instead of selfishly expecting a berry that meets my needs I should commend the berry for surviving and thriving in the face of adversity. Our outlook on life often fuels our reactions. God wants it to be less about me and more about what’s going on around me, right?
As Christians we are called to move from a self-centered life into a God-centered life. A God-centered life. A life filled with God thoughts and God desires. Filled with spirit and love, with hope and grace.
It sounds good to me.
I think I’ll give it a try…
{FYI: I have not read 50 Shades of Grey or watched Magic Mike. I haven’t read 50 Shades of Grey because I abhor bad writing and frankly am not interested in the story. I haven’t watched Magic Mike because I had a full description of the movie from my grandmother who went accidentally with her friends to watch it on a Sunday afternoon not knowing what it was and that description was so hilarious I don’t want to ruin what I imagine the movie to be by actually seeing what it is. That said I think it’s time we Christians stop blogging about it. 🙂 }
