BFD #3

Exodus 29:13 You shall take all the fat that covers the entrails, and the appendage of the liver, and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them, and turn them into smoke on the altar.

The moral of this story, kids, is that the Old Testament is gross. I knew that at some point I would hit a verse or two with absolutely no relevance for today. Well...heck, maybe I CAN extract some meaning from this.

Take the ugly and make it a sacrifice. Sometimes life gives you the opportunity to take part in difficult, annoying, frustrating, or disgusting situations. Often times, the result of these situations is a good one. You're stronger, tougher, and have proved that you can and will undergo crappy situations in order to do the right thing. I personally don't want to burn the fat from entrails. I think that sounds pretty rancid. But there are plenty of distasteful things that God might compel us to do that we REALLY don't want to do.

Example: Right now in my life, I'm dealing with some crap. I'm upset about the lack of movement and significance in my life. I don't know where I'm going or why I am where I am and I feel as if the world is running away without me on board.

I'm also trying to recover from a breakup which I compare to the giant strawberry I got when I slid into third base my senior year, first softball game of the season. My sliding pad had slipped down my leg and the gravelly dirt ended up scraping a big chunk of my upper calf. The doctor explained it as being something like a big burn, because the entire top layer of cells was gone, so the nerve endings were exposed, and whenever I touched it, I felt as if my fingers were red-hot pokers digging into my flesh.

This sounds melodramatic and painful, but obviously I recovered. BUT it did take a while before I could run again, and I wasn't allowed to slide for a while. Even when I was finally given the go ahead to slide, I was afraid to, because the shadow of my nasty strawberry was still fresh in my mind. Breakups are apparently the same way. It hurts really bad at first, gets better bit by bit, you think you're fine when something happens to reopen the scab and you remember all at once that you're not over it yet. And even when the scab is gone, you're afraid to "slide" because you know there is a possibility of the same situation reoccurring.

SO right now I'm living in this REALLY uncomfortable place. Not a whole lot of pain anymore, just frustration. It's not a place I want to be. BUT I can either wallow in self pity and think about the occasionally depressing state of my life, OR I can offer this struggle up as a sacrifice to God. It's like saying, "I am willing to suffer pain in order to get where you need me to be. I am willing to give up a measure of happiness in order to become a better person for you."

Hmm. All that from a verse about guts. I hope my personal story doesn't a) annoy you, b) depress you, or c)make it seem like I'm a helpless/depressed person. I just thought I'd put that out there. Maybe it will help someone.

Sometimes life blows. But it might help to think of your troubles as a sort of sacrifice. Obviously we aren't going to kill a bull on an altar or anything, but we do have things to offer. And sacrificing is about giving up a thing which means a lot to you in order to show that something ELSE is more important.