Eat Your Peas

When I was a kid, I despised peas.  I know most kids don’t like vegetables but that wasn’t the case for me.  I thoroughly enjoyed vegetables.  My great-grandmother made the best cabbage on this side of glory.  I referred to cabbage as Cabbage Patch Kids and often requested more.  So, I didn’t have a disdain for all vegetables.  Just those sweet, little, squishy peas.

My mom was a stickler for family dinner when I was younger.  We sat at the dinner table and were required to eat all that was on our plates if we wanted dessert.  And boy, my mom made some delicious meals.  Except for the times that she added peas to the menu.

See, I’m a dessert with every meal kind of girl.  On nights that peas made the dinner menu, I faced a dilemma.  How do I get through this ENTIRE meal so that I can get my dessert???  I really want the sweet stuff!!!!  If you’ve been reading these blogs for any length of time, you know that I had a plan….LOL.

I sat at the dinner table like a nice, obedient child would and should.  I would begin to eat various parts of my meal.  When my parents got really into their conversation, I would place all the peas in my mouth. I would ask to be excused from the table so that I could go and use the restroom.  Once safely in the restroom, I would spit that squishy mess into the toilet, flush, and then return to the table to finish the rest of my meal.

And that worked beautifully for a while.  Until the day I got caught.  Dum, dum, dum.  I don’t remember if I had to skip out on dessert that night.  I don’t even know if I was punished, but I do remember the emotions that rose up when I was caught in the act.  I was frustrated, embarrassed, angry, and resentful at the same time.  I was a good kid!  I ate my vegetables!  Why would you keep serving me the one thing that you know I don’t like???

I find myself in that same position and with those same emotions when God tests me in areas that I don’t want to grow in.  He wants my taste buds to grow and mature the longer that I serve Him.  And I push back.  God, I go to Sunday School.  I attend Wednesday night Bible study.  Can we just get to the sweet parts of the journey??  I think I do enough…and then He catches me.  With a half-in attitude.  A rush to get through this study attitude.  A let me slide this in under the radar attitude.

God is calling me and you for more.  Not as a punishment.  But because He knows what to feed us to help us grow strong in Him.  We don’t get all the nutrients that are required for growth when we only want to participate in the sweet parts of life.  There are days when life is hard, and we need the nutrients from regular, personal time with Him to get us through.  Eat your peas folks!  #wepreach