Lessons from a fruit kabob...

My Jamie loves mealtime. She always considers very carefully what she would like for breakfast, lunch and her snack for school. Yesterday she was having trouble deciding what she wanted for breakfast, then I remembered fruit kabobs. Jamie loves, loves, loves fruit kabobs. I hadn't made them in a long time so I decided to make a surprise of it. As I was making them I felt joy in this simple act of service. Joy for the excitement Jamie would feel when she saw her favorite snack. At that moment I also began to feel sorrow. Sorrow that Satan will never know the joy of making fruit kabobs for someone he loves, that he in fact will never love. And greater sorrow that so many of us (if not all of us from time to time) buy into his lies that fruit kabobs and simple acts of love and service are not enough to fulfill our lives. He continually tries to distract us from the things of greatest worth. It is because of this that I have struggled so much with this move to a small town. I still feel a pull toward the distractions of the city, but my purpose on this earth has nothing to do with my favorite stores, my city routines, or my "treasure hunts". In fact those are the very things that keep me from fulfilling my mission here. So instead of mourning the loss of something of no value, I need to celebrate what I still have. My family, my friends, my faith, my blessings, health, joy--and fruit kabobs.