Growth

The Pick Up Game

We’ve all seen the kid who has played the “pick up” game. For those who need a refresher, the game comes something like this.

1) You give a baby a toy.

2) The baby drops the toy.

3) You pick up the toy.

Then you repeat the cycle until one of you gets bored.

And while the game may seem remedial and a little silly, we often do the same thing with God.

We ask God for something.

He gives us a good gift.

But instead of treasuring the gift He gave us, we thrust it to the floor.

  • We mistreat our loved ones.
  • We neglect to serve His church.
  • We use our talents for our own purposes.

When we do this, sooner or later we realize that we’re no longer holding the treasure we so desperately wanted. We’ve thrown away what’s good for empty pleasures.

And sometimes, in His grace, He picks it back up again.

  • He restores relationships.
  • He provides opportunities to serve.
  • He uses our talents for His good purposes.

And we realize that the best place to leave the treasure, is in His loving hands.

Now it’s your turn…

Practically, how do you show that you’ve placed your treasures in God’s hands?

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Purpose

The Un-Plan

When I was younger we had this cool soda fountain glass that was inverted.

The wide part, which would normally be at the top, was at the bottom.

The skinny part, normally the base of the cup, was at the top.

On the cup was a 7-Up logo with their then tagline underneath “The Un-Cola.”

It was a pretty effective promotion. (After all, I still remember it and my parents kept the glass for years because it was so different.) The message was clear. Just like the cup was the opposite of what was expected, 7-Up was different from the expected dark cola soft drink.

Sometimes it feels like life is a lot like that glass.

It gets turn upside down, inside out, and every other which way.

Our expectations are scattered as life hands us the unexpected.

The familiar becomes foreign.

And just like 7-Up was “The Un-Cola,” we quickly realized that our carefully planned and organized lives are anything but.

Or are they?

Because although our plans may get inverted, God’s plans are still right side up.

If we’re honest with ourselves, we’d admit that we never really know what would happen anyways, so pretending that we are somehow able to plan for it was a delusion. What matters is whether our lives, as scattered or as jumbled as they may get, are being used by Him.

And as long as we are using our lives to be poured out for His purposes, we can be confident that our lives will be the real thing* – because our lives will reflect Him.

(*I suspect that my dad would have been one of the only people who would get this play on words. For many years, Coke’s slogan was “It’s The Real Thing.” I know my daddy would have loved that I knew that, and that I inserted it into this blog.)

Now it’s your turn….

How do you respond when God’s plans are different from yours?

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