Lessons from Tex, K, and V.

I am the proud "parent" of two adorable goldfish. Ok, truth is, I wanted a pet to talk to, yell at, and just have around. I can't have a dog in my apartment so this was the better course of action. For 72 cents I went to walmart and came home with an overly sized plastic bag of water and two little lives dependent on me.

I take my responsibilities as a parent seriously.

My mama taught me well.

Because I'm the little fiance with her man overseas, I got to name them all by myself! Their names are Tex and K. I feed them, talk to them, and yesterday I began to marvel at how gross their bowl was. Oh yeah, fish poop too.

Forgot about that.

I was at my desk last night, trying to do homework but really being totally unsuccessful. I looked up in time to see Tex swim to the bottom of the bowl, lip up some brown pellets and swim upward to instantly spit them in the water.

Wow

That's your own poop, fish.

I thought ya'll were going to be smarter than cats.

Wrong.

I was relating the experience through facebook last night and a friend of mine said these words, "That's probably how God looks at us sometimes."

I was silenced by the truth and conviction of that statement. She's in 8th grade and she can tell it exactly how it is......how often am I that fish?

My life isn't perfect. Sometimes I swim around in circles, hitting the walls of my bowl. God is giving me good food from above--sprinkling it in ample amounts to satisfy my soul. He begs me to partake of His pureness......

and there I am at the bottom, sampling the grossness of my own muck. I would rather eat of my dirtiness than of His purity.

Just like "V" pointed out last night, when I think that fish are the dumbest things in the world, don't you know that God often looks at us, shakes His head, and wonders what in the world is wrong with US.

I have thought about her statement all night. It makes me look back and see where I have been that fish--and then examine my life for areas where I still am.

What refuse am I sampling now when God's best is waiting for me?
That fish spit it out quickly--will I?

I can clean the bowl--remove the refuse--and the fish will have clean water without nastiness. But they will always poop again. I have to feed them plenty to keep them from hungering their own nastiness. How comparible is that to God? He cleans us, renews our surroundings, purifies us so we don't HAVE to eat from our filth. But there will always be more mess-ups. It's up to us if we choose to seek His pure filling and food in His Word versus living in our own muck.

Funny things you can learn from goldfish....
and 8th graders.

Because He lives,
Sarah