A Yummy Donut and No More Zombie

Alright .... so I was eating a yummy donut on my way to a writing center staff meeting this morning, and I started thinking. It was all because of the yummy donut too. Some "food for thought!" Whatta ya know! ;) ......... This donut was made up of some kind of sugar bread ... AND it had sugarful icing on top ... with sprinkles. (Yes ... sugarful is a word - a Mical word, at least - and yes ... I was loading up on the sugar. Sorry, James.) ;) ...... Like I said earlier ... It was a really good donut ... and its yumminess factor spurred on thoughts about Jesus. Yep. :) The question popped into my head .... "How can I get Jesus to taste this good?" Of course, Jesus DOES taste good, and it's not because I make Him good .... I just meant ... How can I make Him taste good in my life? How can I really savor Him in my life? .... Like I was savoring that yummy donut. I got to thinking about Psalm 34:8, which says, "TASTE and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him."

TASTE the Lord. How do you do that? I was talking to my friend, Ben, last night .... and we got to talking about the crazy stuff God's been allowing into my life over the past several months. He was asking me about how I've grown in the Lord through all of it .... and I brought up the word "communion." I was telling him about how my time with God has NOT be another thing on my "to do" list lately. It's been real communion with God. I knew what I meant by this word when I was talking to Ben about it last night, but I just looked it up in the dictionary, and Webster defines communion as .... "fellowship; interchange of thoughts or interests; a state of giving and receiving." These are all good definitions, but I really like the last one ... "a state of giving and receiving." That's what real communion with God is. So often we get caught up in other things during our "quiet" times, our times for just Jesus and us. (Did you notice that quiet is in quotations? ... It is difficult to really get quiet before the Lord. How often do you do it? I know I have trouble.) I was describing to Ben how my time with the Lord before all of the trials was me saying my two bits ... then God saying His two bits. It wasn't really a conversation ... it was more like an awkward .... hmm ... I can't think of the word I'm trying to get across. My quiet times were kind of zombie-like. Zombies (yes, they are not real ... but work with me here.) can walk around and perform "normal" tasks ... but they are not engaging in any of those actions. They don't even know they're doing them. It's just something they do to get by. ....... Okay ... that was a lame example ... but it was the first thing that popped into my head. I was a zombie quiet time Christian before all of these trials were thrown in my path. I read my Bible every night. I prayed. But I wasn't engaging in those activities that produce growth and joy and ... LIFE! So I wasn't growing in my faith ... I wasn't living in joy ... I wasn't being filled with the life of Christ. I was a zombie ... walking around, maybe performing Christianly tasks (reading my Bible, praying, ect.) ... but completely oblivious to the importance or the depth of those tasks. I wasn't engaging in my prayer and devotions. I wasn't engaging myself in getting to know God better. I wasn't communing with God.

TASTE and see that the Lord is good! We know that God is good. We've been taught that all our lives. We've said it countless times. ....... But to TASTE that He is good ... to SEE that He is good. How do we do that? ........ No more zombie ... that's how. To taste the Lord, we must eat His word. We must spend time with Him. We must LOVE HIM MORE THAN ANYTHING OR ANYONE! Yep! I said it! MORE than all things!!!! ....... This is what God's been pressing upon my heart for the past 3 or so months. Our primary calling is to glorify God by enjoying Him forever. We can glorify God in tons and tons of ways ..... but the foundation is a right relationship with Him. And we experience a RELATIONSHIP with Him by tasting and seeing that He is good ... by COMMUNING with God. Think about that for a little bit. It's a bit deeper than you think. Or as my pastor says, "That's better preachin' than you think." ;)

Huh. This post took a crazy turn early on ... one I wasn't expecting. I was planning to simply tell you all that I ate a yummy donut today and that it made me think of Psalm 34:8. .... And somehow I got to talking about communion and ..... what? Zombies??? .... Wow. The side note/tangent Queen strikes again! ;) Okay ....... well, I'm done with my ramblings. At least for now. ;) Have a great weekend! Allow God to teach you something new this weekend .... keep growing in Him. :) I'm off to hang out with my youth group kids! Sweeet! :D