I ended up with Harvey at a white elephant gift exchange this past Christmas. If you're not familiar with the procedure of a white elephant, I'll give you the gist of it: A person will unwrap a gift. The next person can either "steal" that gift or unwrap a new gift. This will go on until all gifts are unwrapped. Sometimes you could end up with a really nice gift, and other times you could get stuck with something questionable. Harvey was one of these questionable gifts at first because, well...
...yep,
Harvey is actually a wino fish. He was a gag gift, a novelty item. I'm honestly
not sure that he was actually designed to be wanted. The person who unwrapped
Harvey during the white elephant did not want to keep Harvey, so they tried to
persuade each gift-unwrapper to "steal" Harvey from them. During this
exchange, I waited for my turn, and while I was waiting, I'm not exactly sure
what happened inside me. Maybe I took pity on this novelty wino fish. Maybe I
wanted to be a good friend to the person who unwrapped Harvey. Maybe I was
suddenly, mysteriously enamored with the idea of adopting an unwanted novelty
wino fish. Maybe I just wanted to blog about him. But I "stole" this
fish, and I almost immediately named him Harvey and gladly took him in. Harvey
was mine.
Of
course, my kitties and I are a package deal, so pretty much anything that comes
into my home will more than likely be integrated into life with da cats. Here
is Harvey serving as a cat-food bowl. (This really was a one-time photo opp. Harvey
does not serve food regularly.) For the record, I don't use Harvey to store
wine or any alcoholic beverage. One of the ministries that I'm involved in at
my church forbids me from drinking alcoholic beverages pretty much altogether
(at least in my case). This is more than fine with me because, frankly, I don't
like alcoholic beverages. I tried wine many years ago, and I didn't like it.
Also frankly, I'm crazy enough without alcohol. Have I told you lately how much
I heart my kitties? So, Harvey is a fireplace-mantel decoration.
At
first, I thought Harvey would be a cute little story about rejection and
adoption and "Aww, God has mercy on us and chooses us at the white
elephants where everyone else tries to get rid of us." But the more I
thought about it, the more I realized that in a symbolic sort of way, Harvey is
ME!
"Blessed
are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be
filled." (Matthew 5:6)
"Let
them give thanks to the Lord for His unfailing love and His wonderful deeds for
men, for He satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things."
(Psalm 107:8-9)
"Taste
and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in
Him." (Psalm 34:8)
"They
feast on the abundance of Your house; You give them drink from Your river of
delights. For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light we see light."
(Psalm 36:8-9)
"My
soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth
will praise You." (Psalm 63:5)
"One
thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of
the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to
seek Him in His temple." (Psalm 27:4)
For
the past few years around my birthday, I've blogged about how much I've changed
over the years. But this year, I'm pretty much blogging about how I've ALWAYS
been a certain way and am discovering it in a new way. God made me, and He
continually shows me how He made me, and I'm extremely thankful for that.
Harvey
didn't suddenly turn into a novelty wino fish while he was being transported
from the factory to the fireplace-mantel decoration store. He was DESIGNED to
be a guzzler. He was CREATED to hold a bottle of something. He is DESTINED to snuggle
back with a bottle of something for the rest of his novelty-wino-fish life.
I'm
the same way. I'm a worshiper. I was DESIGNED to worship God. I was CREATED to
drink in God's beauty and deeply absorb anything that He wants to feed me. I am
DESTINED to taste and worship God for the rest of my days.
That's
been perverted whenever I've worshiped people, myself, things, or anything or
anyone else besides God. (Besides the fact that worshiping anything or anyone
else besides God is idolatry, sin, a major no-no that hurts me and hurts God.) I
need to be extremely careful with what I guzzle, because filling myself up with
the wrong stuff could lead to something really bad really quickly. For
instance, if I worship people, it could lead to codependence. If I worship how
people hurt me, it could lead to bitterness or depression. If I worship myself,
it could lead to arrogance or insecurity. If I worship perfection,
imperfection, or mistakes, it could lead to condemnation, anxiety, or confusion.
Of
course, Harvey's metaphorical existence isn't an exact parallel to mine. I'm
not a manufactured, lifeless object that sits around and waits for somebody to
use me. I'm a human being (not a "human doing") who's been saved by
Jesus, redeemed from the pit, and destined for eternal life with my God. I'm a
citizen of heaven, so that's where my home is. I belong in God's throne room. I
was designed to enjoy a relationship with God and hang out with Him in His
house for the rest of my life, even after I leave this earth. And no, God
didn't feel sorry for whoever got stuck with me at some white elephant party 36
years ago. His adopting me isn't an accident. He was very intentional about the
way that He made me (see Psalm 139). He wants me, period. And yes, He made and
wants you, too, reader.
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