Me: Its time to eat. Come and get it!
Prodigal: Good, I’m starving!
This is from Joni Eareckson Tada
I was having lunch at a friend’s home recently, a wise Christian woman with discerning eyes. Before we ate, I had to borrow one of her spoons and have her bend and twist it in a contorted angle.
She then inserted the spoon in my hand splint and I was able to feed myself. But as we ate and casually talked, I noticed her eyes. She kept looking at the bent spoon. When lunch was over she pulled the spoon out of my arm splint, and set it by my plate. I was a little embarrassed that I had to bend one of her nicest pieces of flatware. With that ugly twist of the metal, it looked as though I had ruined the spoon.
I offered to have my husband straighten out the spoon-to return it to its original shape.
“Oh, no,” she said. “I want to keep this spoon just the way it is.”
“But it looks ugly like that.” I protested, “and besides, you won’t be able to use it.” By this time she had the spoon in her hand, gently fingering the twist in the handle, admiring it as though it were a thing of beauty rather than something bent and misshapen. To her, the spoon had a special meaning.
“You see, Joni,” she explained, “you can only use a spoon that’s been bent to your needs. A straight one just won’t do. A twisted tool in your hand can better accomplish a task.”
I’ve nicknamed my special utensil a “spork.” I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone into a restaurant and had busboys or a waitress spy it and try to take it away.
“Ugh! Where did this come from? It must have gotten mangled in the dishwasher,” they’ll say.
Or a busboy may pick it up and without saying a word, bend it back to its original shape, thinking he’s doing me a favor.
“Oh no, ” I tell them. “It’s supposed to look like that. It’s been perfectly so I can use it.”
Isn’t that the way God works in our lives? He knows He can better accomplish His unique plan when He bends us to suit His will. He can best use us when we’re molded and shaped for His special design. Now, certainly, this spork of mine isn’t very attractive. It’s obviously unlike the rest of the utensils in the kitchen drawer. And we might come to think that we, in our weakness, are unlike all the rest.
But in the hand of God we serve an express purpose. The metal of our souls may be hard and difficult to bend, but when we allow God the privilege of shaping or lives, we discover new depths of purpose and meaning. What a joyful thought to realize you are a chosen vessel for God–perfectly suited for His use.
Even a spork can be noble….if it’s placed in the Master’s hand.
In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble. If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work. 2 Timothy 2:20,21
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
