Tuesday, February 27, 2018

Remember Erma and Forrest Gump? Life is full of Pits

Sometimes I laugh when things so crazy happen in our life, such as tonight as I presented my husband with a beautiful piece of Key Lime Pie right before I dumped the remaining pie upside down in the floor! He was delighted it was right AFTER he had received his slice of pie.

Erma Brombeck was a wonderful author that put life into perspective in her book "Life is a bowl of Cherries and I live in the Pit." Sometime I am in total agreement with her, because it seems no matter how careful we can be, the pie gets dumped or something goes wrong.

Right after I thought of Erma's book, I thought about Forrest Gump (my mind bounces often) and what his mother always said, " Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what your going to get."

It made me think about all the choices we have in life, just like in a box of chocolates, we never know what we are going to get, or how it will turn out, until we bite into it. We make a choice and then we must eat it or spit it out. Just like life itself, it could be that gooey cherry filling, which I think is awful and must get it out of my mouth. If we look closely at the candy, we may make a wise choice and get one with a wonderful, crunchy nut filling. Oh my, how sweet it is!

Sometimes we make a choice and it is not the best and we must stop, before it is too late and get it out of our life. But here is where I think we mess up, for several reasons. 

In Romans 7:15-20 Paul said it best:

15 For I do not understand what I am doing, because I do not practice what I want to do, but I do what I hate. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree with the law that it is good. 17 So now I am no longer the one doing it, but it is sin living in me. 18 For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For the desire to do what is good is with me, but there is no ability to do it. 19 For I do not do the good that I want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but it is the sin that lives in me.

Sin can be so relevant in our lives, we no longer care, or not disciplined (in Christ) enough, to hold on to what is right. Often times we allow ourselves to be deceived by Satan to make the sin enjoyable enough that we make excuses to ourselves. When I get ahead of God and try to make my own decisions, I usually mess up big time. There are many reasons we cause our own lives to be disruptive, but not focusing, praying and waiting on God is probably at the top of the list. We must always pray and ask forgiveness, even when we know He already has forgiven us. 

God the Father loved us so much, He sent His own Son to die for us and our sins. This is where we decide about sin. Do we realize we have so many choices everyday in life? What if before we opened the box of candy, taking the plastic paper off and opening the lid, that we decided to only eat the good chocolates? Then we could toss the box and the bad candy in the trash and never look back...could you do it? That is the way should be everyday with our choices. We should wake up and decide right then to focus more on Jesus and make good decisions for the day. We should never wait until the choice is before us, Satan is a professional tempter! 

Bottom line here, don't be like Forrest's mother, "Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get." I am telling you that you can know. You can live the life God has planned for you. Make wise choices in life by starting you day with Him and the Bible. Don't live in a pit, for Satan will be there!