Lessons From A Bag Of Gummy Bears
Why do we settle for less than God's best for us? Why do we overlook his blessings and second guess his promises? Why do we live on the scraps, when he has promised a feast for us? Sometimes I find myself saying, "Oh no God, I'm fine eating my stale saltines and drinking my tap water, I don't really want that juicy steak with a side of crab legs and a baked potato oozing with melted butter and sour cream." I mean who likes that stuff anyway? "You might as well just throw it all away because I'm so happy with my saltines."
And what about the dream, that desire, that we have carried around in our hearts for as long as we can remember? But we never go to that audition, or go to college for that degree, we never say yes to that new relationship, or apply for that new job. Oh we have plenty of "good" reasons........ Fear / The feeling that I'm not good enough / Complacency / Laziness / and Doubt. But that dream, that desire, God planted in us when he created us. And he did it on purpose! In psalm 20:4 it says "He (God) will grant you your hearts desire and fulfill all your plans" It's already been given, all we have to do is take action to claim it. But most of us never do.
I stumbled across the passage in Deuteronomy. God told his people all this land is yours. I give it to you. All you have to do is march across it and place your feet upon it. That's it. But they only walked across a 1/3 of what God had given them. How many times do we settle for less than what God has promised us? Out of timidness or fear or something else, we don't lay claim on what God has offered and we usually end up with less than 1/2 of his riches.
Last week I had my two grand-kids over to my house. My parents came over to see them. My grandson was so excited when "great" grandma exclaimed she had brought him a gift. He jumped up and down excitedly with a silly little grin on his face chanting, "What is it? What is it? " His eyes got big when he saw it was a bag of gummy bears. He handed the bag to me to open. I placed 4 gummy bears in his pudgy little hand. He just stood there, hand outstretched, never taking his eyes from the open bag. His face began to scrunch up in utter confusion. So I told him, "we are just going to have a few of them. " He looked at me like I was a crazy lady. And then he spoke in exaggerated syllables, "Grandma gave me ALL of them, not just 4!" It made no sense to his 3 year old mind that I would withhold something that was given to HIM!
It hit me like a ton of bricks later. I have a hard time accepting ALL that God is offering me. I take a little nibble and insist that I am full. I insist that this small portion is enough. But God has so much more set aside for me. Why don't I claim it?
My perspective is forever changed now. When God lays a feast before me, I will always picture my grandsons simple faith, and I will remind myself that God gave me the whole bag, not just 4 little pieces.
