Pumpkin lessons

I was super sad this morning when I discovered that my BIGGEST, ROUNDEST, most BEAUTIFUL pumpkin (from the outside) was quite 'mushy' on one side. Because I was dashing out the door, I didn't have time to do anything with it, but noted that I should probably cut it open and salvage the good parts while they were still good.

Well, lo and behold, I arrived home about 4 hours later and 3/4 of the pumpkin is now 'mushy' on the outside. So I gingerly carried the monster to the kitchen sink and proceeded to make the incision...a rancid, rotten smell came screaming out from inside where black gunk was eating its way throughout the meat. Off to the compost pile I strode, a bit heart-broken that my "prized pumpkin" was nothing more than a mushy pile of rotten flesh, coated on the outside with a beautiful orange shell.

In the Gospels, we read the story of the widow's mite...a poor widow walks into the temple and brings 2 pennies to put into the offering. Jesus commends her sacrifical, SMALL gift, shedding light on the reality that she has actually given MORE...a BIGGER gift....than those who have given out of their wealth. Many there on that day, apparently, possessed much, had big bank accounts and very beautiful outside appearances. I can imagine that this poor widow probably wasn't very clean or well-dressed, and may have gone unnoticed by most...but not by Jesus. Not only does He notice her, He turns the entire scene into a lesson that illuminates an eternal Truth.

What we may think is the biggest and the best, the most beautiful, the prize of all prizes, could actually be completely rotten on the inside. The outer shell hides what's inside, until finally, change comes, he's plucked from one place and put into another, and what is really going on inside comes bursting forth. Sometimes there is nothing to salvage and, like my pumpkin, it all has to be tossed out into the compost pile for the worms to devour and transform into something useful.

What is the "rot" inside of each of us...that secret, hidden sin that we think no one knows about or that won't affect anyone because it's only "about me" and only "involves me". That's the biggest lie ever, and the Lord is wanting to put a holy zeal inside each one of us, that His righteousness would reign from the inside out so that the meat, the seeds and the outside of the pumpkin are healthy and nourishing to others.