Welcome to my randomized study & miscellaneous thoughts about the Awesome God of the universe, who He is and what He wants us to be.

---

---

---

---

Verse of the Day

---

Today's Quote

---

 
Flies in My Cheerios^tm

Odd title isn't it. I'm not really sure why God gave me that thought last night but I've been pondering it and have a few ideas - but of course! :-)

One of my favorite cereals growing up would have to be Cheerios^tm. Nevermind those Fruit Loops. Keep your Trix. Forget the Sugar Smacks. Just give me a bowl of plain ol' Cheerios^tm. Don't need a banana cut up, no strawberries either puh-leeze! Simple, plain, tasty, nutritious...Delicious!

But have you ever been eating your nice, cold bowl of Cheerios^tm and had a fly try to share it with you? Nasty! And rude! Here you are sitting and minding your own business...enjoying a tasty treat and along come a nasty bug trying to steal some of the goodness that is your Cheerios^tm!

So what do you do? Some would dump out the bowl...it's been contaminated with fly filth! But not me...and probably not some of you either. We try to "shoo" the fly away. Shoo, shoo fly! All the while we keep eating our Cheerios^tm. And does that work? Of course not. So we try moving the bowl around while we eat. Maybe we even try to slouch over it to protect our precious Cheerios^tm from the airborne bandit. This may or may not work. But in my experience, a couple of things happen almost immediately:

We stop enjoying and concentrating on our Cheerios^tm and start thinking about the pest instead.

You're starting to wonder right about now, "So what? What are you trying to say in this lovely Parable of the Cheerio and the Fly?"

Well, I'm glad you asked. Well, you didn't really ask. I actually assumed that you were thinking that because I certainly was. So, how about this...

Sometimes, often maybe, when we're doing something (anything) "unto the Lord", trying to be a minister for Him on earth we are able to be joyous (as He commands) and happy at the same time. We find ourselves enjoying whatever ministry it may be. We are seeing a difference for the Kingdom in what we are doing. But then...buzzzzzz. Here comes the fly.

The fly comes in many, many forms and I won't try to describe them all here (I can't), but suffice it to say, the fly is that person, event, obstacle or situation which you encounter that tries to divert you, to disgust you, to take away the joy of your ministry. Maybe it's the new guest, the unbeliever, who acts like the sinner that we all are - they're just being themselves. Maybe it's a brother or sister in the Lord, a co-laborer, who offends you - intentionally or not. Maybe it's a dry spell where you see no progress - watching for the flower to bloom up top when it's the roots that are growing down deep to get stronger that's necessary and happening.

The fly makes some "throw out" the Cheerios^tm. They get discouraged. They get disgusted. Fed up, had enough, it's not worth it! Some will try to cover their bowl, hide it from the fly while still eating it. But the focus has changed from enjoying the Cheerios^tm to keeping them from the fly. They'll try to keep undesirables out of their area of ministry. They become protective and possessive.

So what do we do now? We could choose to stop eating Cheerios^tm (no ministry involvement). We could focus on the fly, the distractions, the annoyance. We could seal off our entire kitchen, or home, so that there's no way the buzz of the fly could even come close to us. How did Jesus handle the "flies", the distractions in His life? We know that the disciples tried to shoo away the children, they were only children and they were bothersome. Probably dirty. Definitely noisy. Running around, jumping and shouting excitedly to see the Messiah. Keep those flies away from the Lord! But what was Jesus' response?

Mark 10
¹³The people brought children to Jesus, hoping he might touch them. ¹⁴The disciples shooed them off. But Jesus was irate and let them know it: "Don't push these children away. Don't ever get between them and me. These children are at the very center of life in the kingdom. ¹⁵Mark this: Unless you accept God's kingdom in the simplicity of a child, you'll never get in."
(The Message)

So, I suppose that we must learn to accept the flies that want to share our breakfast. Focus instead upon the joy - sometimes that's easier said than done...but in the long run, the eternal run, isn't it going to be worth it?

Stop shooing and keep chewing!

He is not here, He is risen! Risen indeed!
Dr. Larry

scribbled with crayon by dr. larry at 10:26 AM