It was dark. There weren’t storms though. But it was still dark. Lights glowed dimly, encouraging our Giver of Light (2-year-old son) to start the descent into a deep slumber for the night.
He and I sat around our dining room table (who am I kidding, we only have a breakfast room table) eating some delicious pasta. One filled with cheese, one filled with something else. I didn’t know what it was, I just knew it was pretty good. It was new.
We ate it all and rubbed our bellies (I was secretly longing to eat my wife’s portion while she was off feeding our newest son). Another delicious dinner down. About that time my wife came out and asked how we liked it.
“Loved it,” I told her.
“You liked the new stuff as well?” She asked with a little extra inquisitiveness.
“Yes… What was it?”
“I don’t want to tell you.”
Piquing my curiosity even more, of course, I soon forced it out of her.
“Mushrooms.”
I threw up in my throat a little. I am not a mushroom fan. But somehow I ate and enjoyed pasta filled with it.
The next day for lunch I pulled out the remainder, heated it up, and started eating… Shuffling the disgusting mushroom-filled ones to the side so my taste buds could enjoy the beauty of pasta and hot cheese slathered with a rich tomato sauce. The mushrooms… They can die.
I literally had to choke them down. I didn’t want to do it. One flopped open and I saw the putrid fungus diced and curled up all over… It laughed at me. I know it did. Mockingly. I had to eat it now, though, since I told my wife I enjoyed it so much last night. I couldn’t just throw it away.
…All I wanted to do was throw it away…
But then it got me thinking. I liked it in the dim light. when I didn’t know what it was. I sucked it down alongside my son (he’s not picky like me, thank you God!). But when it’s butt-ugly face was exposed the next day, I didn’t want to do it. My throat would lock up as my body revolted against ingesting the fungus.
(Yes, I know mushrooms are “good for me” and “healthy.” So, you know what, you can have my portion. I’m just that kind of guy.)
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It’s funny when people act like that about food. In the end, it’s not really that big of a deal. But we also do that to people. We get to know someone and really like them, but when mistakes from the past or even the present surface, Jiminy Cricket, we’re gone!
You become like the company you hang out with right?
At least, that’s how we justify our horrible actions of breaking up with our once friend. One night when you don’t see the grime in their lives, they are cool people. But the next morning when you see them light up, or throw back a bottle, or look that hot girl up and down, you are gone.
We wouldn’t want other people to think we are like that too. Because, you know, guilty by association right?
Just like the mushroom, having those people in your life is actual a healthy thing. For both of you.
We all have mushrooms in our lives (no… no, not the fungus). The black sheep of the family. The outcast. The friend that “fell off the deep end.” Maybe we gave it a shot at still being their friends.
One shot.
Pat yourself on the back. You Holy Crusader, you.
Sometimes following after Christ sucks. I don’t mean that it’s a bad thing, I mean that it is a hard thing. Christ never turned from people, He turned to people. In the process He turned them to His Father. And that is what we are called to do. We aren’t called to flee the crime scene, we’re called to it.
We are the visible hope and love of a gracious God and we are running from the pain and the darkness?
WE ARE ALL FREAKIN’ LIGHT BEARERS!
Own up.
God puts people in our lives to help us become more like him. If we constantly run from this we are doing a disservice to ourselves, to those people, and to God. We aren’t becoming who God wants us to become simply because we are scared of this world and the people around us.
Bravo.
Give yourself another pat on the back.
Then kick yourself in the butt.
Bear the Light with Love. Run into the darkness with your arms open. Yes, you are going to get stabbed. Yes, you are going to hurt. Yes, being vulnerable blows. Yes, there are a thousand reasons why you shouldn’t tread that path and go to those people.
Just remember one thing, you were just like those people but that