A FLAVOR EXPLOSION

Last year was my first real adventure in gardening.  Steve built 2 boxes for me, filled them with dirt and I began planting all my favorites; tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, green beans, squash, and strawberries.  I planted about 6 strawberry plants in one end of the box and as soon as a strawberry became ripe, there was a grandkid to pop it in his/her mouth.  This year all the strawberry plants came up automatically, filling the end of the box.  Since I couldn’t plant anything else until the end of May, I had not paid much attention to the garden.  Yesterday, Steve came in and said, “Get your bowl, there are a lot of ripe strawberries to be picked.”  Excitedly, I cut off the stems, washed them and popped a juicy berry in my mouth.  Talk about FLAVOR EXPLOSION!!!  It was strawberry flavor like I have not experienced in a looooong time.  “Wow, so this is what a real strawberry tastes like.”  Yes, I had been eating strawberries purchased from the local grocery’s produce department for so long that I didn’t even know how a strawberry should taste.  Instead of putting in the time and effort to acquire the best, I had settled for the easy offering of a Grocery Produce Buyer.

Too many times I have found myself in this same exact spot in my spiritual experiences and relationship with God.  I become lazy and satisfied living off the spiritual offerings of a congregation instead of cultivating a genuine relationship for myself.  For many years, I was content to attend church, participate on a superficial level in worship, feel the “thrill of the Spirit” run down my spine and continue on with my life satisfied with the “taste of God” on my lips.  Then one day, I found myself in a situation that church attendance couldn’t solve and the runoff of Brother or Sister’s blessing couldn’t cover; I had to start seeking, praying, shedding tears and forming a relationship with God on my own.

God is gracious and merciful to the truly repentant, the genuine seeker and the hungry heart; one day it happened.  I had what we in Pentecostal circles call a “BREAK THROUGH.” 

Psalms 34:8 Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who trusts in Him!

Talk about a FLAVOR EXPOSION!   I had tasted of the GOODNESS OF GOD.  It was like nothing I had ever experienced before and I wanted more.  Never again would I be satisfied with feasting off of a bygone experience from yesterday.  I wouldn’t be shopping for one that had spent days ripening on a truck and sitting on a shelf; I needed FRESH PICKED!

REFUSE TO BE SATISFIED; REFUSE TO SETTLE!  Oh it is much easier to just walk in the store and pick up a neat little container of bright red strawberries.  You can even convince yourself that they still have a little “strawberry flavor.”  BUT, if you ever take the time to till the soil, plant healthy seedlings, pull the weeds, water faithfully and wait patiently, you will harvest a good crop.  And once you have tasted the genuine you will never again settle for the fruit of someone else’s labor.

God has blessings reserved just for you.  Don’t cheat yourself out of God’s best by hoping for the “spillover” of a friend’s spiritual experience.  Dig a little, plant the Word in your freshly tilled soil, root out the weeds that threaten to choke out and overpower the tender seedlings, water your ground regularly with tears, wait patiently and rejoice in your abundant harvest.  Your soul is about to experience a FLAVOR EXPLOSION!