Lessons from avocado toast

I've recently gotten hooked on avocado toast.  I know, it did not sound appetizing to me, either, until I tried it.  There are many variations (you can check out a few here), but I like the basic recipe:

• Get a piece of good bread, an avocado, sea salt, and lemon juice.  
• Toast your bread.
• Smear some avocado on it, squirt a bit of lemon juice, and sprinkle with sea salt.  
• Enjoy!

So this morning I went to make my toast and found that the avocado half I'd saved with some lemon and plastic wrap over the top had turned brown.  I must not have gotten a tight seal on it.  (For more on saving your avocados, just Google it - "tried and true" methods abound!)  At first, I was disappointed.  Then I grabbed a spoon and scraped at the discolored surface.  What did I find?  Beautiful, bright green flesh just waiting to top some toast!  Hooray!  Breakfast was saved!

You know, I think we are like this avocado in some ways. We are bumpy on the outside, we've been a little tainted by our exposure to people/places/things, we might even have a giant pit that is squeezing the softness of our insides.  On the surface, our lives may appear to be ruined, or at the very least, we are not useful to God or to anyone.  I don't know about you, but I have some places in my heart and mind that don't feel very useable!  But just as I scooped down into the avocado with hope, Jesus digs beyond the things that might cause us to cast ourselves aside because He knows there's something bright and beautiful underneath.  He does not allow us to just look at our flaws, He challenges us to go a little deeper with Him to find the hidden delicacy of who He made us to be.

When sins or poor attitudes rise to the surface, Jesus carefully and lovingly scrapes them away to reveal goodness and righteousness.

When our minds and hearts are covered with a dark layer of pain or disappointment, He scoops out the damaged fragments and allows us to be exposed to His love and comfort.

Jesus loves us too much to allow us to stay the same.  He does not give up or toss us in the trash like an old piece of fruit.  He pokes around, peeling back bumpy layers and pulling out pits and digging until He finds that lovely heart of flesh within us...the heart that He wants to mold and to be completely His.

The next time you are tempted to turn up your nose at the discolored pieces of your life, take a closer look.  You and Jesus just might need to grab a spoon.

A light in a dark place

"For You cause my lamp to be lighted and to shine; the Lord my God illumines my darkness."

(Psalms 18:28, Amplified)

I was up before anyone else this morning.  I awoke with such an urgency to grab my Bible, my journal, and my laptop...this excited me because I haven't felt that in a long while.  (Well, maybe I have and I've ignored it - that might be closer to the truth, but I digress.)  Alone, over a cup of coffee at my kitchen table, I read Psalms 18.  In this Psalm, David is recounting the way that God delivered him from the pursuit of his enemies and from the hand of Saul.  He begins the Psalm with a moment of adoration, a statement of who God is to him:

"The Lord is my Rock, my Fortress, and my Deliverer; my God, my keen and firm Strength in Whom I will trust and take refuge, my Shield and the Horn of my salvation, my High Tower."

 (v. 2, Amplified)

The next seventeen verses (through verse 20) chronicle the trouble David was in and God's mighty response to David's cries for help.  David says things like, "He drew me out..."(v. 16), "He delivered me..."(v. 17), "The Lord was my stay and my support..."(v. 18), and "He brought me forth..."(v. 19).  As the Psalm goes on, we read David's song of praise to God.  He tells the Lord in very specific terms what he is thankful for and who God has been in his life.  

"He is a shield to all those who take refuge and put their trust in Him." (v. 30)

"You have girded me with strength for the battle..." (v. 39)

"You have delivered me..." (v. 43)

"...You lift me up..." (v. 48)

I can almost picture David out in a field somewhere, eyes and hands lifted to God, pacing back and forth with excitement, shouting out these words as he considers all that God has done.  He is encouraging himself and anyone within earshot.  The entire Psalm tells the story of God's faithfulness to David in his dark time.

Are things dark in your world today? I can relate.

Let's go back to verse 28: "You cause my lamp to be lighted and to shine; the Lord my God illumines my darkness."  The Message translation puts it this way: "God, you floodlight my life."

I love that.  Something that is illuminated is bright and easy to see.  A floodlight is no small-watt bulb, it's a giant expanse of light in a broad space.  And that is what God brings to our lives - His great light.  Sometimes life feels like a battle.  We desperately want to leap from the merry-go-round of our days.  The circumstances and situations we face may have eliminated the light and concealed our hope.  We don't know which way to turn, we don't know why things are happening the way they are, but may I reassure you?  The Lord is there to enlighten us, to bring knowledge, to make things clear, to brighten the path.  We may be in darkness, but we can see and experience His light in our lives today.   

If you're feeling a little dusty or dim, ask God to shine His light on you and to flood your life with light so you can see Him.  Take a moment to look back and rehearse the good turns your journey has taken. Thank God for that.  Trust Him to correct the missteps.  And if you want, leave a couple of words in the comments section below about what God is doing in your life; I promise it will encourage your heart like it did for David in this Psalm.