Okay so I've been meaning to "write" this for a while now and have been so swapped with life - school - jobs - family - friends - you know the drill, I just couldn't find the time.
Well, I still couldn't find the time but I realized that's because I already had it. I was just letting my responsibilities determine how I spent it. Instead of doing what I wanted to do, I was doing what I thought I had to do (or what other people wanted me to do). So now that I have taken control again of my priorities, I will tell you the story of the pickles and the prayer...
One day, I reached into the pantry and pulled out the long neglected jar of dill pickles. I had bought them about three weeks earlier and many times had looked them over, thinking to myself, "I don't really feel like a pickle right now." Well this day was the day. I FELT like eating a pickle. I dare say even craved a pickle. I decided it was the perfect addition to my hummus pita with lettuce and tomatoe and my ruffles potato chips. Everything was going to plan as I pulled the jar out of the pantry and began to grab the lid. However, when I attempted to remove the light green lid from it's fitted glass jar, nothing budged. I tried repeatedly with all my might using the various common methods for jar opening (you know, the little pad that you use for better grip, hitting the bottom of the jar, etc. my friend Sabrina even banged on the lid with a butter knife handle). Nothing worked. I began to think maybe the pickles habored some sort of resentment against me for making them wait so long in the pantry. After Sabrina and I gave ever ounce of strength that we had left she suggested, "All we have left is to pray." So, haphazardly and not very sincerely, short of the fact that I really wanted the pickle, I prayed, "Dear God, please help me open this jar of pickles."
No Joke. I really tried it. And guess what... Immediately, without any real big effort of my own, the lid came off. Then a light broke through the clouds and angels sang the famous Hallelujah chorus! Okay that last part about the clouds was a joke but the lid really did come off super easy after I prayed. Awesome, right?!
My contemplation: Maybe God is telling me that I've tried my best and now need to just ask him to help. It'll be so much easier when we do it as a team instead of me acting alone thinking God is testing me. Maybe God is testing me not to see if I can make it alone but to see if I ask him for help. Maybe the lesson of the pickles is that God wants to join me in my struggles not simply give me what I want. Maybe I'm just ramblining on, but hey that's what blogs are for.
